


day and night, black and white

by QueenSeal



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Badass!Rhys, Blood Kink, Felix owns Atlas, Lots of kinky smut in later chapters, M/M, Slow Burn, Torture, Undercover Missions, Violence, artist!jack, chapter 4 has torture fyi, dont worry i will warn you when things get gore and weird, helios is massive, its not that bad but as a precaution, kinda domestic, like healthy relationship, like massive enough that you can drive cars to get around, maybe? - Freeform, spy AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-04-16 04:49:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14157111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenSeal/pseuds/QueenSeal
Summary: Rhys, August, Fiona and Sasha are assigned the job of going undercover to become employees at Pandora's biggest overseer, Hyperion. The end goal is to take down Helios, Hyperion itself, and of course, Handsome Jack.Rhys was assigned the task of befriending and gaining the trust of Handsome Jack, which wouldn't be difficult if it weren't for the fact that somewhere along the way he fell in love with Jack, making it damn near impossible to decide:Rhys either betrays his friends, getting himself killed in the process, or he betrays Jack knowing that he will be forced to kill him in the end.Maybe all he needs is a Guardian Angel.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering, yes this was changed from Rich Text to HTML. I hope it makes for easier reading.

_Deep breaths. Just wait for the signal and do not miss. the. shot._

Rhys repeated these words over and over again to himself. He had done this a thousand times before, and each time felt no better than the first. His arm twitched, causing the scope of the sniper to jolt away from his target, but only for a second. His metal arm quickly caught the movement and returned the gun back to the correct millimeter measurement. 

Rhys enjoyed snipers- correction. He loved snipers. His first shot ever taken was from his dads rusty Torgue FE-5400, and he hit the bullseye of the target first try. His dad called it beginners luck. When Rhys joined Salta3, under the command of Felix, he was given an shotgun which he nearly shot off his partners head with. Fiona was not happy.

Fiona did, however, look very intrigued at the man before her as she chatted him up. That was her specialty, talking her way through anything. Rhys heard Fiona over the comms, going on about how she loved the new shield design he came up with. He, the President of Anshin, was smooth talking right back which seemed to be a nice inflation of his ego. 

“ETA on Pres arrival, Rhys?” came August’s voice from his ear piece. 

August was sat around the corner of the Anshin employee exit, unable to see the door the President and Fiona were about to walk through. August was all meat, no mind. He didn’t think things through, but he was tough and willing to attack anything asked of. His favourite guns were assault rifles, and heavy armour. Rhys attempted to wear said armour, back a few years. Let’s just say he needed help standing up after he fell over. Rhys shook his head, attempting to drive the embarrassing old memory from his mind. 

“40 seconds. Wait a least 20 after that if you don’t hear anything” Rhys whispered back, not taking his eyes off the scope for even a second. 

“You’re clear off site boys. Get ready for that nice vaca we’ll get to take. Or at least I hope we’ll take.” said Sasha, currently back at base on overwatch, after the last mission left her with a badly broken arm and shoulder. Rhys really wished Sasha was here, instead of August. Not that August was bad or anything, it’s just heavy armour wasn’t the best item to wear outside of a business building. Had anyone been able to see him, he would look so very much out of place. Sasha was quick, fast, and had accuracy that rivaled Rhys’. She used small shurikens as her weapon of choice, with a brilliantly high capacity shield to make up for lack of armour. You would never see her coming.

“10 seconds”

Rhys took a deep breath, finger gently pressing against the trigger. The door opened, Fiona slightly behind the business man, and Rhys pulled the trigger. 

The man cried out in pain as the bullet sank into his lower back, hitting the spine, causing him to be instantly paralyzed. As he fell, August ran up to catch him, immediately throwing the man over his shoulders. He fell unconscious as Fiona brought her pistol head down into his neck, effectively knocking him out to make transportation back to base easy and simple.

Team RAFS made it to their respective rendezvous points, awaiting the good to go from Felix and Sasha back at base. This gave Rhys some time to clean his special sniper, a Jakobs Gold3000, with an added Elemental barrel that turned a regular bullet into any elemental effect provided Rhys programmed the option in. Which was a pretty sweet enhancement, but could be oh so frustrating when he didn’t have the option he needed. Rhys really wished he could just sit down and make a multi-elemental bullet himself, but the missions he was being sent on had been getting tougher and tougher.

Atlas used to be a well known, prosperous company that ruled Pandora’s market. Rhys wasn’t sure of the exact details, but shit went down and Atlas went with it. Now a days, a man named Felix owned the company with his two adopted daughters, Fiona and Sasha. Atlas still remained an underground corporation, attempting to hurt the other major brands before they made a resurgence, which seemed like a bad idea, but according to Felix it was better if the other companies were scrambling for profit because Atlas made sure to botch all their plans beforehand. 

Either way, Rhys was here because he had excellent programming skills and after getting caught up with Fiona on a target capture, Felix officially hired him. It wasn’t all because of his programming skills though. Rhys had an almost dark secret, something that most would not think he’d be capable of. 

Rhys loved to kill, and torture. He got adrenaline rushes off of watching someone writhe in agony, begging him to stop, blood spraying gorgeous streaks across them. This was something Rhys definitely didn’t advertise, but when the right person saw what he could do, he went all out. Felix needed targets captured for forced information, and then disposed of. No one else in the group enjoyed it, let alone could withstand going far enough to force the person to spit out whatever info they had. Felix saw the potential in Rhys, and it benefited them both equally. 

_You’re clear to head back to base. See you all soon. -Felix_

Rhys read the text on his Echo, and garnered up his belongings. This was going to be one hot, long walk across the desert.

__________________________________________________________

When Rhys reached the base, he shuffled to his bedroom on autopilot, not even noticing as Sasha followed in behind him. 

“Ugghh just fuck me over” he groaned, falling face first into the mattress. 

“Sorry, I just had lunch so I’m kinda full right now” Sasha mocked behind him.

Rhys only raised an arm to give her the finger. 

“Seriously though, you okay Rhys? You’ve been on 5 runs in the past 3 weeks and even when you are here Felix has you on prison duty 24/7. It’s not healthy for anyone” Sasha said as she gently sat on the bed beside him. 

He knew that Felix was over working him, sending him out to do every task without question. He should question it, maybe say no and take a break, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t that he didn’t want a break, he really did. It was because Rhys felt lonely, and he quite literally was alone. Sasha had August, her long time boyfriend of 5 years. Fiona wasn’t dating anyone, but she had Felix. They were a father daughter duo. Rhys however, didn’t have anyone he could share a close relationship with. He didn’t know exactly what he was missing, and honestly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to find it but he knew that distracting himself in his work helped, even if it didn’t solve anything.

“Are you ever going to take down those Handsome Jack posters? Like seriously the dude is seriously fucked up, not mention a total asshole dickface” Sasha commented, shaking her head.

Rhys rolled onto his back, “They’re motivation posters. If Handsome Jack can stand there with total confidence surrounded by enemies and manage to eliminate all of them, I want it.” 

Sasha only raised an eyebrow as she stared at him. “That’s a little creepy, Rhys”.

“Pfft what? No it’s not” Rhys spewed, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. “Aha.” He finished, as they heard a knock at the door. 

“Oh, hey babe” Sasha smiled, walking up to August giving him a kiss on the cheek. “What’s up?”

“Felix wants everyone in the meeting room, now” he stated, motioning for them to follow as he walked blank faced out of the room. Sasha shrugged at Rhys, walking out after August.

________________________________________________

“Okay everyone, have a seat. I have some rather, ah, exciting news for you all. You all have been working extremely hard lately, doing what needs to be done for this company, and for me. But now I want you to work for yourselves, and maybe take some time off along with that.” Felix spoke, gently leaning forward on the table before him.

“I am bringing in some news faces, to replace you on Pandora.” 

For a second Rhys’ heart stopped- replaced? Felix replacing us on Pandora? Just like that he’s letting us go, without a second thought? 

August abruptly stood, arms crossed as he glared daggers into Felix.

“I said I’m replacing you, on Pandora. You four, will have a different job, just not on this planet.” 

“Where, then?” asked Fiona.

“Helios. You will working for Hyperion, as undercover spies. Hyperion is our greatest enemy, both in marketing and war. Without them taken down, we will never be able to reach the top spot in the galaxy. I want you four to be the ones to take them down from the inside out.”

The silence spread throughout the room was deafening. Living on Helios? Taking down Hyperion? Felix must’ve had a whole lot of trust in them to put the group, especially this group, up to the task. Honestly Rhys was a little sad, he liked Hyperion and admired their leader, Jack. I mean he admired their business model because Rhys is totally not a creep and have a crush on Jack, no way. 

“There is also word that Hyperion has a Vault Key, or at least knows of its whereabouts. That Vault may just be the very thing can destroy the Hyperion Empire.” Felix stated. Rhys knew that Felix wanted a Vault Key very badly. He had been going on about the purchase of one for weeks.

“Wait so who are you bringing in to replace us, then?” Sasha asked Felix.

“Former members of the Crimson Raiders, also Vault Hunters. There names are Axton, Maya, Zero and Salvador, and with them we will have a whole new skill set. I think you four will have much better luck with this new task. I trust you.” Felix said, nodding his head as looked the four of them. 

“So, here are your jobs. You will each have a specific task as an end goal, but everything else will be up to you. I want you to start at the bottom and work your way through the Hyperion ranks, by whatever means possible. If it means you have to kill a few targets, or lie your way through something, you will do it.” Everyone nodded as they all leaned forward in their seats, anxiously awaiting their task.

“So, let’s start with August. August, you are to be employed in the Hyperion Army, specifically located on Helios as security. If you can work your way to a Manager or Department Head position, that would be helpful. We will need you to have access to everything that goes on within the army itself. The less we have to physically fight, the better.

Fiona, you are to go into a Secretary position. The more you know about someone's schedule, and where they will be, the better. Your job is to not get caught doing so. I want you to stay at the level you are at. You have complete control over those people’s work lives, so make it work.

Sasha, as we all know, you have a experimental side. Also, as we all know, Hyperion does a lot of testing to come up with new, inventive items. Join Research and Development. Even if you don’t know what exactly you are testing, you will know what works and what doesn’t. This is crucial that you become nosey, but not too nosey. You don’t want to get detected.

Finally, Rhys. I think I’ve given you the hardest job of them all, but you deserve it.” Rhys took a deep breath in. He really hoped it involved programming, or something that involved him sitting at a desk all day. That would be a real treat.

“A company can’t rule without a leader. Befriend Handsome Jack, in whatever means possible. You must become a part of his daily life, just do not get killed. As most, this will last a year.”

Rhys inhaled sharply, but wasn’t able to let the breath out. “You want me to become friends with Handsome Jack? What?!”

“It’s only for a year, Rhys.”


	2. Chapter 2

“A year” ended up being several, four, to be exact. Four long years of waking up at 7am, barely having time for a cup of coffee which Rhys usually spilled on himself when he was rushing, then running into his office only to be greeted with several new stacks of paper, waiting for him to complete them in what should be illegal time frames. Then his idiot co-worker would walk in, boast about some new big fancy thing he got, and proceed to undermine everything Rhys did for an hour. Every single day. 

But not all was bad! He had been assigned to the Programming Department, which was a huge relief for him. Sure, it did mean he got to sit on his ass all day, but his mind was falling apart piece by piece shrouded in layers of code. Rhys couldn’t exactly complain though, he had asked for this after all, and it was a nice distraction from his real job, to befriend Handsome Jack. Which, honestly, was going to become a lot easier when Rhys got his well deserved promotion to Head of Programming. Henderson kept going on about retiring, and he needed someone to fill his position. He hadn’t out right said anything to Rhys yet, but he was sure this was it, as he stood outside his door with his best friend, Vaughn.

“Okay bro! Show me your best Hyperion face!” he cheered, the short man before him.

Rhys tried doing a smoky sneer. “Hmm… okay uh, yeah try putting your nose up higher, like I was checking your nostrils” Vaughn decided, giving Rhys a hopeful smile. 

He raised his nose up higher, keeping the “I don’t care about you, only me” look. 

“That looks great! Okay bro, good luck!” Vaughn held up his fist, as Rhys bro fisted back. He took a deep breath and walked into Hendersons office. 

He loved Vaughn, and his other roommate Yvette. Since he came to Helios, they instantly hit it off and after a few months eventually decided to rent an apartment together. They would spend nights out at the club, watching with hilarity as Rhys was a lightweight and got drunk off of two beers. He always attempted to dance, but would usually look ridiculous and fall over, causing a scene. 

However, his favourite times were when they had a night in. Mario Party would be on the screen, pop bottles and chip bags scattered around the floor, enough pizza to feed an army on its way. Those were the moments he felt the happiest. He could trust Vaughn and Yvette, relax around them and let loose. He didn’t have to pretend to be someone he wasn’t, someone who lies and sneaks by everything, as his real mission looms overhead. Felix had originally told them it may take several months, for they were to start at the bottom and work their way up to higher positions. It was also in part to him bringing in new members. Vault Hunters to be exact. Felix needed them on his- our, side if we wanted it all. The vault was the final goal, and it meant everything for Felix, and Atlas as a company. 

“Just hang on a second, Rhys. I’ll be with you in a moment.” Rhys stared in confusion as none other than Hugo Vasquez sat in Henderson’s chair. Vasquez was rambling to someone on his ECHO, about a car colour or something that Rhys didn’t care for. 

“Ahh yes Rhys… Welcome! To the big leagues!” Vasquez stood proudly, arms spread wide. “Yeah I know, it’s a shocker that I was promoted, all that hard work paid off I guess! Congratulations me!” Assquez smiled proudly. 

Rhys was shocked… How did Vasquez of all people get promoted?! He couldn’t code a single line worth his life, and most of his work, Rhys did. 

“Where’s Henderson?” Rhys asked, eyes glaring at the idiot.

Vasquez turned to look out the window, Henderson’s corpse floating into view.

“Wow I could not have timed that better” He smirked, turning back towards Rhys, who was wide eyed staring at his former boss, floating in the empty space.

“But you are still getting a promotion-” Vasquez was interrupted by a voice on speaker coming through his Echo.

“Look, are you gonna take this Vault Key or what? I can only book so many R&D test chambers” Vasquez was quick to turn off the speaker, but not quick enough. The mention of a Vault Key and the fact that it may be on Helios got Rhys’ attention.

Rhys could not keep this to himself, Felix would kill to get his hands on this. However if Vasquez knew about a Vault Key on the station, that meant at least one other person was involved, which according to the short conversation he heard, meant that this person had the Vault Key with them. He couldn’t trace the call back to the owner as it went through Helios’ subsystems, but perhaps if he was able to get some info off Vasquez…. 

“Sorry about that, important business. Anyways, about that promotion. Congratulations on becoming Senior, Assistant Vice Janitor!” He clapped loudly, so proud of himself for being able to give orders like that.

Anger coursed through Rhys, his blood boiling as he rigidly stood up, turned, and walked out without another word. “Fuck you, Assquez.” he said as the doors closed behind him. He could still hear the laughter within the office as he turned towards Vaughn.

“What the hell happened in there, Rhys?” He sighed, rubbing his face into his hands.

“I was promoted to janitor. Stupid fucking, JANITOR!” he yelled, kicking the wall beside him.

“I’m sorry bro that really sucks… Ah here, how about tonight you, me and Yvette all go clubbing and get piss drunk? Take your mind off things for awhile” suggested Vaughn.

Rhys sighed again, looking at his best friend. “Bro I’d love to… It’s just that I think I’d rather go home and sleep for a few days. Now that I have nothing to work towards I might as well take a well deserved nap, right?”

Vaughn looked over him with empathetic eyes. “Of course Rhys. Do whatever you need. Right now is all about you. Although you won’t mind that me and Yvette go out to that sick new band show tonight, right?”

Rhys nodded. “I don’t mind! It’ll be kind of nice actually… I could lie naked on the couch for 5 hours” he smiled wickedly at Vaughn.

Vaughns face turned into horror at the thought. “Oh god no please don’t. You’ve now ruined that couch forever for me. Everytime I sit on it, it’ll be like a replay” Vaughn said as he hid his face in his hands.

Rhys cackled at his friends horror. “Cya later?” he asked.

“ See you later my bro!” Vaughn cheered, giving Rhys a final brofist before walking back to his own office. Rhys let out a breath, and headed home.

So Vasquez and an unknown guy had information on the whereabouts of a Vault Key. Rhys didn’t know who the other man was, but if he could find a way to learn about this…

It dawned on Rhys that Vasquez needed to be captured. There was no way to learn more about this deal without either alerting Hyperion Security, which meant Handsome Jack would be notified, or Vasquez and the guy would make whatever deal was planned and run off before Rhys could get anything. He needed that information, and Rhys would absolutely torture Vasquez until he got what he needed. Then he’ll probably kill him. 

Once he reached home, Rhys grabbed a few energy drinks, some snacks, pulled out some grafting paper, and got started on his plans to torture Vasquez. Besides, Rhys hasn’t tortured anyone in a few months now and he needed the thrill of the kill once more.

_______________________________________________________________

Rhys woke up suddenly, head buried in a mound of papers around him. He must’ve fallen asleep somewhere between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. Yes, it had taken him nearly two days to gather all the information he needed. Felix had taught them to be extremely thorough, as there was always a loose end should you go in without doing your homework. Every target had someone who would notice the absence, and be suspicious, you must eliminate all who posed a real threat that could lead you to be caught. This meant finding close relatives, friends, co-workers, anyone who could question Rhys, had to be taken care of first. Which means Rhys did a lot of homework.

He did find one person who would question the absence of Vasquez, a fellow co-worker who seemed to be good friends with him. What a friendship that must be, egomaniacs. Rhys needed to know where this guy worked within the programming offices, maybe follow him home on Monday just to see where it led. It was currently 3pm on a Sunday, which meant no one was working. Thank god for Jack wanting Sunday’s off. Rhys decided to head over right now, get a quick look at the layout and figure out what the best plan would be.

___________________________________________________________

He watched curiously, as the tall, legged man walked around the office. Programming, was it? He switched the security camera feed over to another angle, and continued to watch Rhys as he moved around. 

“Huh.”

With that, he stood up, got into the elevator and pressed the button for Programming Department. Someone was in for a surprise today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, posting two in one night is my max! Chapter Three should be out sometime this week, provided I don't have any insanely busy events come up.  
> Get ready to meet our main cast of characters! <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay here's the thing. I hated the chapter I posted a couple days ago and it's been bugging me since. So I decided to re-write in what I deem to be slightly better chapter. (still not happy with it)

_Yellow, White, Yellow and White, White and Black, Yellow Black-_

Jack sighed contentedly, running his hands through his hair as he leaned back in his chair.. All of the offices that made Helios Station were three colours and minimal decoration, just the way Jack liked it.

Except he didn’t.

Because all his employee’s had a terrible sense of style, with most of the offices being covered in paper so you didn’t even get to see the subtle architecture of the building. Jack had spent weeks re-designing the entire station and to be honest, this felt a bit like a betrayal.

He continued flicking through the security cameras, admiring his own work some more, casually scrolling past the man with the sexy long ass legs-

_Wait, what?_

Jack quickly flipped back over to the camera, spotting a boy with the longest legs he’s ever seen in his life. He squinted at the screen, trying to maybe recognize this employee. Jack didn’t exactly advertise his attraction to long legs, and certainly not to men. I mean Jack has standards to hold up here, as the most feared man in the galaxy.

The kid was currently moving around the office, staring at a report or something in his hands. Jack sat back in his chair, watching.

“Huh”

It took less than 5 seconds before Jack hopped up out of his desk chair, walking in long strides towards the elevator. He was bored out of his mind, and scaring an employee on a Sunday afternoon for no reason sounded like a fun time to Jack. The elevator doors slid closed as he pressed the button on the wall. 

“Programming Department” Felicity spoke, Hyperions Security AI.  
______________________________________________________

Rhys growled out a frustrating sigh, tired of looking at profiles of Vasquez associates. No point in even doing this if the man knows so many people. Mind you, about 99% of them hated him and the only reason they stuck around was because knowing someone who knew someone else led to promotions and a hefty paycheck. 

The tossed aside clipboard clattered to the floor as Rhys sat at the computer before him. His brain started saying “cat memes” to which he found himself browsing and adding into a vast collection. This led to Rhys finding himself standing before a printer, bouncing on eager feet as over 100 pictures rolled themselves out on the tray. Vaughn had a very severe cat allergy, which seemed to fuel his hatred cats in general but since his birthday was coming up relatively soon, Rhys decided he would cover their apartment in cat memes as a hilarious joke. (At least Rhys assumed it was funny). He chuckled lightly, holding up the stack already printed to browse for good humour. It was then he suddenly heard a booming, deep voice behind him.

“What’s happening in here, pumpkin?”

Rhys froze. It couldn’t be… that voice sounded just like- He whipped around to see the Hyperion CEO, Handsome Jack, leaning against the door frame.

“I uh, sir! I was just, um, doing this yeah, with a- uh... hi” he finished pathetically. He was _definitely_ about to be killed. No one dares to say a mindless sentence to the CEO, let alone a blunt “hi”. 

Jack frowned, stopping his stride a step away from Rhys. He was close enough that Rhys could feel the breath wash over his own face, a small tingle creeping down his neck and arms.

“Uh, hi?” Jack mocked, scrutinizing Rhys’ face. Yep, Rhys was a dead man.

________________________________________________

The kid’s face stayed frozen in an expression of crippling fear, eyes wide. Jack smirked, just about to back away when his face turned a sickening white. Without warning the kid passed out falling face first into Jack’s coffee cup, which in turn caused Jack to be splashed with boiling hot coffee, his reaction to trip forward at the sting. A pile of cat pictures flew through the air followed by droplets of coffee and the two men crashed into the floor. 

Jack’s vision merged back into focus, staring into a tuft of light brown hair.

“What the hell?” he growled, sitting up. This long legged kid had apparently passed out on top of him, as he slid off of Jack still unconscious. He looked down at the scene before him, hot coffee pouring it’s way around the tiled floor, soaking into, was that cat meme pictures?

Jack laughed, his mood lightening. This kid just got better and better by the minute! He stood up with the realization his clothes were also soaked with his favourite Starbucks coffee that had at least 30 grams of sugar in it meaning that Jack needed to get these washed asap, before he turned himself into a ‘help yourself molasses station’. The kid was still laying there, and custodial services wouldn’t be in for at least 8 hours, which meant he couldn’t leave this mess of legs lying here. Not unless Jack wanted the R&D Spiderants to go crazy until they broke through the floor and built themselves a nest in this.

10 minutes later Jack was staring at Rhys, still unconscious, on his couch in an apartment that laid above his office for temporary use. He was starting to worry, shouldn’t he have woken up by now?

Wait a second, why was he worrying? Over this random guy from programming named “Rhys” which was a stupid name, who was currently lying on his personal couch covered in sticky coffee and cat meme pictures? Jack’s mood soured considerably, instinctively reaching an arm back to lay on his golden gun. Why not just shoot this stupid fucker right now? What right did he have being here in the first place? This was the couch Jack fucked hot random girls on, watched movies on when it was too long a journey to wander back home. Now this guy laid here, serving what purpose, exactly?

He cocked the gun, lightly pressing the barrel to Rhys’ forehead. 

Jack growled, defeated, backing off to sit back on his bar stool. Something about this Rhys, he couldn’t quite put a finger on it but he seemed too innocent? Fragile? He couldn’t kill him, and Jack didn’t even know why, which only frustrated him farther. 

Deciding that he needed to -at the very minimum, get payback for the coffee spill, Jack gathered up some of the pictures, letting them stick all over Rhys’ body in clear view.

“Just wait till they see you like this, Rhysie” He chuckled lowly, grabbing his camera and snapping a photo. Jack definitely needed to send this to Rhys’ friends. Or the whole station. 

__________________________________________________

Rhys moaned at the aching pain shooting up his spine. What the fuck happened? He thought, slowly opening his eyes to a very bright sun above him. He tried moving his legs, blood pooling at his feet.

“Oh fuck me” he groaned, the pins and needles crawling up his leg.

“Only if you say please, Kitten” 

Rhys’ head shot up, eyes popping wide open to stare at the source, of which was one Handsome Jack. He smirked down at the kid, watching him curiously as he crossed his arms asserting his dominance. 

“You passed out on me, kiddo. Split my coffee all over yourself attaching those cat pictures on the way down -which by the way I totally took pictures of, and since I can’t leave someone turning themselves into an ant farm on MY station, I brought you to my office apartment. You can thank me later.” He quipped, an amused expression plastered across his face. 

Office Apartment? He turned to take in his surroundings, eyes immediately drawn to another massive floor to ceiling window, featuring a view over Elpis similar to Jack’s office. While the open space itself was monochrome, it felt cozy and soft, the bright yellow accents shining over as a warm sun. The sparse furniture felt Zen, like Rhys was inside a garden filled with meditators and yogis alike. He highly doubted that Jack designed the space himself, the bad powerful man who could cause citizens to cower in fear should he be within 100 feet of them was into… Interior design? Rhys just couldn’t see it, no way. 

He moved his eyes past the living room and the massively oversized flat screen to the kitchen next to him. The latest and greatest appliances filled the space, combined with a black marble countertop and white wood cupboards. The kitchen itself was quite bland, except one bright yellow object sat hiding behind a coffee pot. Curious, he leaned over to see that it was a toaster. 

“Huh” he muttered, surprised that Jack would have a yellow toaster of all things. His view was suddenly cut off as eyes focused in on an unimpressed, angry Jack face. 

He had the sudden realization that he was currently inside Handsome Jack’s apartment, on his couch, covered in cat pictures stained by sugar coffee.

_Shit._

“Rhysie… you fucked up. You really think you can just spill hot coffee all over ME, and get away with it, huh? Do you think you can just walk away from the big, bad CEO?” Jack suddenly shouted, as Rhys felt a gun barrel just barely press into his forehead. Was Jack protective of the toaster or something?

“Except you have something way more fascinating going on, isn’t that right pumpkin? I know what you’re up too, so fess up before I start ripping you apart limb by limb, torturing you for HOURS until you give that information.”

So this was it. Four years into his mission and Rhys had failed. He didn’t even complete his mission… Oh god, Fiona, Sasha, August… Does he know about them too? If he knows about me he certainly must be onto them as well. Felix is really getting screwed here and oh man Vaughn and Yvette will never know what happened to me! He peered up at the man with the crazed, blood hungry eyes.

“I uh… I” Rhys sputtered out. 

Jack doubled over, without warning, laughing hysterically, gun falling to his side. Rhys watched as he flopped onto the other couch, still cackling away like he’s just heard the funniest joke to ever be told. 

“Uh, sir? I don’t re-really understand?” 

“Ohho man you should’ve seen your face kiddo! Ahahaha I’m just messing with you! You looked like a moonshot was about to land on your pretty little face!” Jack laughed out, turning hysterical at this point. Rhys had a fleeting moment of concern for the man, watching dumbfounded as Jack calmed down, going on about becoming Prank Master of Hyperion or something. Rhys let out a quiet cough, Jack snapping his eyes on him. He chuckled once more, before standing up and walking away, the door closing behind him. 

Rhys sat there for a second. What should he do? Probably leave, right? He grimaced at his rather sticky situation, literally, as the cooled coffee now nothing but molasses. Of course Jack liked Sugar-bucks, as Rhys called it. He couldn’t exactly complain though, he was the one who caused the spill and lets be real here, Rhys did have a certain fondness for Starbucks coffee.

He peeled himself off the couch, grabbing any loose pictures as he did so. Rhys made it about 4 feet from the door when he suddenly felt a firm hand grasp his shoulders, jumping at the touch.

“Woah there Rhysie, you didn’t shoot up any of that coffee did you?” Jack laughed, as Rhys turned around with a less than amused glare.

“Aaaanyways, look as much as I’d like to see your cute lanky ass walking around my station like that, I can’t have you spreading sticky shit everywhere ruining the image of the company.”

Rhys accidentally let out a snort, looking at Jack’s current Hyperion yellow sweatshirt, well worn and dirt covered leather jacket, with torn, blood stained jeans and sneakers. Yes, very professional. 

“I wear what I want, when I want... and who I want.” He winked at Rhys before shoving a handful of clothes into his face. 

Rhys stared at the pile in his hands. “Uh, why are you giving me clothes, sir?” he asked.

Jack stared back, blank faced. “To wear dum dum. Now go change in the bathroom. Unless you wanna give me a show?” He laughed, waggling his eyebrows at Rhys.

Immediately Rhys’s face heats up, eyes darting to the door Jack was pointing at. “And don’t call me ‘sir’, I’m barely above 30. Just Jack, you got it?”

Rhys nodded nervously, briskly walking into the bathroom to get away from Jack’s glare. He quickly shut the door falling down to the floor, and put his head between his knees. 

“What the fuck just happened?” he whispered to himself.

Rhys gave a few moments to gather himself, calming his heart beat down to normal. He shakily stood up, turned the tap on and washed off all he could over a sink. Rhys didn’t even dare try to use Jack’s shower, which only caused him to realized Jack would shower naked, warm water flowing over his muscled body. Vaughn had always teased Rhys about his “obsession” with Jack, but Rhys just called it “Admiration of a Hero”. Technically Rhys shouldn’t be admiring Jack at all, in fact he should be dead set on getting Jack’s trust without attachment. He knew Jack would die in the end, him probably being the one to do it, as Felix had said “wait for my word”. That was years ago, and Rhys quickly started to take a liking to the man, but as Jack was the most famous, richest, and hated man in the entire universe, he kept his mouth shut and head down. Doing his job and staying unnoticed was much better than being killed 3 days into employment. 

He looked down at the clothes lying next to him on the counter. Jack had given him a pair of grey sweatpants, much smaller in size that Jack himself, but perfect for Rhys. To go with it was a Hyperion standard issue t-shirt, the ones they gave out for free at their yearly internship job fair. It smelled like dust and plastic, but it was better than smelling like the inside of sugarcane and cold coffee.

Rhys was thankful for not receiving any of Jack’s personal clothes, although he did feel a little pang of sadness not getting to sniff out what cologne Jack wore. _No stop it Rhys, you’re being creepy. It’s as though you’ve had a crush on Jack for the past four years!_ Even Rhys couldn’t convince himself on that last one. Sighing, he took a last look at himself. When he emerged from the bathroom, Jack was shouting angrily into his ECHO. Rhys stopped to see if Jack would acknowledge his presence, but it went unnoticed. He quietly walked out the door and into the elevator, surprised when he ended up in Jack’s office. Guess it was a private elevator.

He made haste to the office door, in fear that turrets might start shooting him down should he stand still for too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Rhys is totally *not* crushing on Jack right now. Right?
> 
> Thanks for reading, chapter 4 should be up by the end of the week! This work in un-beta'd, but if anyone you know of out there would be willing, send me a message on here, or on my Tumblr ( https://epsilonfreak.tumblr.com/ )


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *TORTURE CHAPTER WARNING*
> 
> Doesn't contain a whole of of blood (unless you count cutting off circulation till he turns blue), but it does contain actions related to flesh peeling and the like. (Such as de-limbing). So if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, I suggest you skip this chapter. (the torture is honestly not that graphic, but thats my opinion)
> 
> You won't miss anything, everything said here will be re-iterated in a later chapter.
> 
> Read at your own risk, and please don't hate me if I give you nightmares, I'm sorry <3 *offers cookies and hugs*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who started reading this before April 4th, I have decided to edit/ re-write Chapter Three. The actual plot line has not changed, but I did attempt to fix it sounding more like a story and less like a script. My suggestion is to re-read it anyways, get a better flow for the story.

By Wednesday evening Rhys was ready to go with his plan to torture info out of Vasquez, having taken care of a couple of potentially suspicious workers, and one remaining family member. He was in the clear. Hyperion as a company wouldn’t care, one of the only ways to work your way up the ladder was to murder those who took a spot you wanted. Unless you attempted to kill someone who Handsome Jack liked. Then you were immediately escorted out the nearest airlock.

“Assquez” was in a position that didn’t have much responsibility anyways, or at least that’s how it worked when he ran it. With Rhys as the only qualifying employee left to take the job, his duties would be much more hands on, with actual code writing. The department might even be thankful for not having to do their boss’s work too. He smiled knowing that, running the blade of his knife across the stone block. Guns would draw too much attention for this, especially since Rhys had to get Vasquez from his apartment in the upper residential quarters, all the way down to the old R&D facility. 

Old R&D was abandoned at this point, after a few bad shield tests caused the whole wing to blow up. It was repaired, of course, but a new facility was already under construction, equipped with the latest technology and much stronger test chambers. The old one now laid empty, waiting until Jack came up with a use for it. The main entrance remained locked, connected directly into Hyperions Security AI, but a back entrance through some ventilation shafts remained open. Anyone who ever visited the Crius district would know that it now contained the more rebellious of habitants, it having once been a thriving district for R&D workers. After the explosion however, it left most of the space damaged and no longer of use. It became filled with anyone who who didn’t directly work at Hyperion, mostly those who were homeless or drug users. Or homeless drug users. Either way it was a lost cause, even Jack no longer bothering to run guards through the area. The perfect spot to set up a torture chamber. Rhys licked his lips at the thought, excitement coursing through his veins.

Rhys stood outside Vasquez’s apartment, only 5 floors up. He had assumed he’d be living in a penthouse, judging by how much Vasquez bragged about all the fancy, expensive items he owned. Guess Rhys was wrong.

Thankfully, Rhys did remember to put the surrounding security camera video on loop, of some random day back a few months. A single line of code, and it would loop forever until Rhys manually disabled it. 

He didn’t wait around any longer, quietly scaling the building, up to the apartment balcony. The inside was dark, the bed empty.

_Perfect, he’s not home yet._

He climbed in through the window, thankful for his robotic arm to give extra strength. Rhys did a quick check around the apartment just to be sure no one was there, before going up to the door and setting up his little machine. When the door lock would click open, it sends out a signal disabling any and all electronics, including shields, guns, and ECHO Comms. Not that Rhys was worried or anything. He planned to get Vasquez out of the apartment before he even knew what was happening and technically, he wouldn’t. The drug Rhys would inject into him would leave him in a zombie state, his brain responding to any and all commands Rhys gave. 

With one good look to make sure everything was set back to normal, Rhys crouched down and waited.

_______________________________________

The door locked clicked, sending Rhys snapping out of his sleep like state. He watched as Vasquez walked inside, slipping his jacket on the chair beside him. He didn’t make it 2 feet past the foyer before Rhys was behind him, stabbing the syringe into this neck, as the posture of the man visibly relaxed.

With no time to waste, Rhys grabbed his device, Vasquez’s coat and briefcase, and tossed them out the balcony door. A quick look outside told him it was clear, any visible apartment window either dark or closed curtain. 

“Okay Hugo, you’re gonna walk out that balcony door, and jump off the edge. Got it?” The zombie-quez nodded and followed Rhys’ directions.

This trance like drug was truly amazing. Rhys went over and watched as he climbed up the railing, and jumped. He had put a padded cushion below so he wouldn’t completely kill himself, but he’d be in pain, that’s for sure. Rhys grabbed his things, making sure everything looked untouched before climbing down himself. He ordered zombie-quez into the car and 30 minutes later they were in a back alley, not far from Rhys’ setup. 

The streets were quiet, dark and empty around them, the only noise of a nearby club beat pounding against the walls around them. Rhys kept his hands stuffed inside his hoodie pocket, hand latched on his knife should his zombie try to fight back. The pair traveled through several back alleys, making their way through the old brick buildings until they reached the farthest back corner on Helios, a small, singular ventilation door on the otherwise empty walls.

Rhys told Zombie-quez to wait outside, while he checked the building to make sure no drug users were having some sort of party in his spot. The eerie silence of the shafts as Rhys crawled along was all he needed to hear to know no one was there. Old R&D may have been abandoned, but only a third of the space was usable thanks to locked doors preventing full use of the space. He called for Vasquez, who climbed in much less quietly than Rhys, noise rattling off the vents like static electricity.

The pair shuffled through the empty, dark corridors, the whispers of the wind drafting in circles on the floor. Rhys turned into a doorway, two rooms on either side. He picked the left most one, eyes darting off the walls, checking for discrepancies. When he found all of his instruments and boards still in place, he walked to the back wall and pulled a long, wooden board from the floor. He coughed as dust rose up from the movement. It had been several months since he last used this place, the natural decay of the environment clearly taking its toll on the place. 

Rhys heaved the board upright, attaching the security cables along the sides to hold it steady. He went around behind the wooden board, into a little closet full of shelves, from which he pulled a rolling table out along with a chair, for himself of course. With Vasquez turning on the battery lights, Rhys breathed the damp air in, his adrenaline already starting to pump through his veins, his excitement of anticipation going.

“Okay ass zombie, you’re gonna go stand near the piece of wood, and tie your feet into place” He ordered his former boss to tie himself up ready for torture. What a hilarious payback. He did the last cuff up, checking the tightness on all of them. “Now I’m gonna give you another fluid, and we’re gonna get started.” 

Rhys grabbed the second syringe, stabbing it into the zombies neck, watching as he slowly regained consciousness. His body was still paralyzed however, preventing Vasquez from escaping or fighting against the pain he was about to receive.

“What the hell… Rhys? Where am I- What is this!?” he yelled, a lone drop of sweat running down his forehead. 

Rhys leaned in an inch away, smiling at him. “This is where you tell me everything you know about that vault key, and then I am going to kill you. Don’t struggle, it’ll make the torture even worse.” 

Vasquez stared down at Rhys, the pain of fear surging within his irises. “Really? Nothing to say? Wow Hugo, I would have thought you’d be more inclined the get this over with.” He laughed out, reaching beside him to a table, various surgical instruments tossed over it. His hand brushed over a small, violet bottle, filled with a thick substance. He carefully picked it up, bringing it just in front of Vasquez’s face. 

“Maybe this will help us get started.” Rhys smiled, making a show of slowly dipping the tip of the blade into the liquid, letting a single drop fall back inside, the sound echoing around the otherwise silent room. 

“What is that? What are you going to do to me?!” Vasquez tried yelling out, but was silenced by Rhys hovering the same blade over his lips.

“Ah, ah ah, no talking.” Rhys gave him an evil smile, before focusing his attention on the white, button down shirt. The blade trailed over each button leaving a streak of dark purple behind the farther down Rhys went. It stopped two buttons above his pants, him looking up at his victim. 

Vasquez started screaming in agony, attempting to thrash his body around but being unsuccessful. Rhys had barely dug the blade into the flesh, but this substance acted swiftly and only needed the couple inches to cause some of the most agonizing pain a human could feel.

He slid the knife down the trapped man’s chest, digging in as he got lower. “Sorry there boss, can’t let you be fighting back. Now where were we? Ah, yes. The Vault Key.” He said in a dark, husky voice, eyes still glancing up to see a pained face.

“Look I don’t know what you me- mean by this Vault Key” he sputtered out.

Rhys sighed. “You know, you’re only making this better for me. Are you really going to let me have that satisfaction?” When he received no answer, he pulled the blade back up “I guess so.” Rhys smirked, forcefully swiping the blade across Vasquez’s cheeks, down the neck and across the shoulder. Rhys made swift strikes, littering lines of violet red to drip in small doses across a wet skin flowering out like watercolour paints.

A cacophony of screams bounced off each wall, it’s host trapped within a torturous cycle of anguish and despair. His head was clanging, his blood was boiling, his muscles were clamping, his eyes were bulging. 

“OK, OK- Enough! I’ll tell you everything! Just ple-please stop! Stop!!” he cried out, Rhys immediately ceasing all movements. The blade was dragged out, and he straightened his back to turn left to grab a black backpack. From within, he pulled out a red tube, an Insta-Health, letting the liquid flow into the thigh of Hugo Vasquez.

“That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Rhys said condescendingly as he pulled a chair up in front of him. “Let’s not waste any more time, I do plan to be home in time for dinner” he said, a gesturing arm out letting him know to proceed.

“Um right.. A look, Rhys” he started, eyes anywhere but the brown and blue ones straining into his soul. “I, uh, always took you to be a great employee, just wanted to say-” He was cut off by the sound of creaking wood, the chair empty before him. Vasquez panicked, his eyes wildly bouncing around looking for some, if any, sign of movement in the vicinity.

“Cut the bullshit Vasquez” a quiet, but harsh whisper washed over his right ear. A wave of chills jolted down the spine, as his heart jumped over a few beats. 

Rhys appeared from the dark corner, his eyes glowing with an obscene evil. “Stop trying to get out of this, or pepper me up. I am the one with the poison, I am the one with the blade, I am the one who has complete and total control over you.” He spoke, the emphasis of each word stabbing into Vasquez like a knife in a cork board. 

He didn’t need to be told twice, as Rhys stood eerily still eyes continuing to bore craters within him, so he took a deep breath and started talking.

___________________________________________________

“So you’re telling me that this guy Mike is just hiding a Vault Key in R&D, waiting for someone to buy it?”

Turns out Rhys got bored very quickly, especially when it took Vasquez three tries of each sentence before it was said without a stutter. He blamed that, plus the fact that Vasquez submitted so much earlier than planned, he wasn’t the tough guy bully after all. 

He casually dragged his current blade, a small, slightly curved knife across portions of the skin of the leg. What was originally intended to be just removing leg hair in a slow, steady progress on Vasquez, ended making him the apple core instead. A small pile of paper thin flesh was piling underneath his feet and into a brown paper bag that Rhys would airlock later. He wasn’t concerned, the semi-circular papers were so thin it was most likely dead skin that stayed as a top layer.

“No, Mike wants to use the Vault Key for himself, but he can’t do it alone. So he planned to hire people to help him but it couldn’t be anyone Hyperion, which is what he was asking me when you arrived” he explained to Rhys, wishing with might that Rhys would stop whatever he was doing to his ankle, the perspiration soaking out his clothes as any indication. 

The slicing stopped for one grateful moment, pain subsiding in the smallest of amounts. Rhys leaned backwards, head tilting to look up at his former boss. “Why can’t it be anyone Hyperion? What is Mike hiding, Vasquez?” he said, a frown forming across his brow.

Vasquez stopped for a moment, hesitant to say anything more, his bottom lip quivering in nervous rush. Rhys’ eyes hardened, the muscle going rigid along his cheek, a dark piercing stare back at the victim.

Rhys didn’t even say a word, didn’t need to, as he reached over his table to grasp a hand around strips of white, cotton cloth. The groans of metal in space, the station itself, was the only noise rumbling along the walls in a low hum as Rhys tightly secured the cloth strips on Vasquez’s arms, legs, and neck. 

“This may not hurt right now” he whispered, “but not two minutes after I tighten these will you experience the pain of a space vacuum. You see, blood moves throughout your body at a constant rate, pumped into veins by your heart on each beat.” He said, brushing a lone finger over his victim's heart, watching the existing wet blood smearing. “Now, what do you think happens when your veins are shut off so tightly, that blood gets trapped inside each limb, including your head” he notioned, “and left to pool there, leaving the rest of your body with not even a quarter of that to pump over every organ that keeps you alive?”

“I uh, I do-don’t” he blubbered out, the panic evident. 

Rhys smirked. “You don’t know? That is a shame, isn’t it. Ugly as well as dumb.” He muttered back, shifting his hands to pull the first arm piece tight. “Let’s start nice and easy shall we?” He smiled at Vasquez, eyes eager to watch this play out. It would be a long process, but that only made it exciting for Rhys, the more intense the pain the better. 

30 minutes later and most of Vasquez was starting to turn a sick shade of blue. Rhys stood back, admiring his “art”, a heinous smile danced his lips. 

“I, Rhys please st-stop I can’t breathe” Vasquez called, eyes rolling as he dipped in and out of consciousness. 

A lone eyebrow was raised as Rhys looked right back at him. “Seems you can talk just fine.” he pointed out, never moving an inch. 

“Fuck it…” he sigh, exasperated with everything. “Mike is a spy from Tediore, alright! He- he is planning to use the Vault Key to awaken the monster and set it loose on Helios… to kill Handsome Jack.” 

Vasquez looked to Rhys, who was still standing rigid in the dark shadow, attempting to calculate what this crazed man was thinking. He could see the cogs turning, but soon the black and blue haze circling his peripherals sent him to the sleep lands. 

His eyelids fluttered open, a fog obstructing his view, a cold solid object pressed into his cheek like the force of a magnet. His body rattled around, shaking left to right, being swept up and dropped at random, his cheek hitting the same object every other movement. A brief gaze over his shoulder, someone was moving him? He blinked, a sweaty, tired Rhys was above him hands grasping his ankles with determination. A sudden pull forward spiraled black over his vision once more.

Vasquez groaned with lament, hunched over knees in what felt to be a cold, dark space. He shivered, his skin had turned blue- or wait, was that his blood? He looked down upon himself, a scary sight before him. Most of his limbs remained a ghoulish dark blue, thick lines of white where the circulation was cut off, skin wrinkling inwards. His own blood dried across himself, fresh cuts still leaking out with a trail of dark violet poison that had entered the bloodstream earlier.

A loud bang on the siding snapped Vasquez to look at his tormenter, Rhys, staring down at him. As he marched forward Hugo scrambled backwards, his limbs falling from being moved harshly only seconds after paralyzation. Bones crunched as Rhys dug his knees into his wrists, pinning Vasquez under. 

Hugo realized that breaking bones was the least of the pain, when he was forced to watch Rhys slice his fingers off one at a time with nothing but a steel wire pulling through the flesh like butter, scraping at the bones like a saw. His past appendages thudding against his chest like hail, a gallop of crimson coating his surroundings. 

He screamed, yelled, screeched, shouted, wailed and howled but nothing would relent the man from continuing to his other appendages, including what he contained between his legs. What seemed to last hours was a mere 5 minutes, his body ready to give in and shut down but Rhys would not allow it. He kept injecting Insta-Healths again and again, dragging this wire across every portion of visible skin till bone poked through. 

In a fury of shouts and stabs, Rhys’ blurred vision cleared, his mind slowly coming down from the adrenaline of the mess below him. He stopped, taking deep, ragged breaths in an attempt to compose himself; he was pretty sure it didn’t work very well.

“Thanks for your cooperation, Vasquez. I hope you enjoy the view” he grumbled out, tossing in the paper bag with him. He found it funny, even on the brink of death he was still trying to fight his way up, to escape and live. He would never survive his injuries past 5 minutes had Rhys left him chained. Sad to think his actual death would only last 15, maybe 20 seconds. Without hesitation, he pushed the airlock door shut and pressed the button. The low whirring of the system went on, Rhys laughing at the fighting back man in the chamber. A second later and the door opened, the movement slowly ceasing as the contents poured out into the open galaxy of space. 

With a final wave, Rhys shut off the airlock and decided to head home for his well deserved hot shower, something that always calmed him to a normal reality.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to upload, went on a trip for a week and decided not to ignore my Overwatch friends any longer! 
> 
> New chapters should be coming out more regularly now!

_Bzzt. Bzzt._

Rhys snapped his head up, instantly wincing at the flaming pulled muscle in the back of his neck. Slowly, he turned his head to peer at the ECHO sitting on the bedside table. At seeing that it was just a text, and texts can wait, he groaned as he half rolled over, closing his eyes once more.

_Bzzt. Bzzt._

_Bzzt. Bzzt._

He sighed, grabbing the pillow and throwing it over his ear in an attempt to block the stupid vibration. 

_Bzzt. Bzzt._

…

_Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt._

Rhys scowled, sitting up to incredulously stare his phone. Who the hell was incessantly texting him at- He glanced at the clock. 

6 in the fucking morning? This better be important.

As Rhys snatched up his phone, he noticed that the texts were just different variations of his name, the texter obviously resorting to just “Rhys” for the spam.

**Rhys: Who is this, and why are you spam texting me at 6am?**

**Unknown: wassup rhysie? its your fave badass whos incredibly handsome and awesome**

Rhys internally groaned, running a hand over is face. None other than Handsome Jack was texting Rhys, of all people, for seemingly no reason?

**Rhys: Jack. May I ask what do you want?**

**Jack: ur lanky sexy ass**

An immediate blush crept up Rhys’ cheeks, even if he was a little a terrified which only seemed to intensify his growing crush on Jack.

**Jack: srs tho, i have boring business stuff 2 talk to u about, meet me at sbux in hour**

Rhys blinked, staring at his phone, shocked. Jack wanted to “talk business” with him? At a Starbucks no less? To be honest, he was more confused than scared. There was no way Jack knew that Rhys was involved with the killing of Vasquez, even if they had found his body. 

**Rhys: Which one?**

**Jack: oh the private one, ill wait for u outside :kiss: :sun: :smiley: :smiley: :crown:**

Rhys frowned, firstly at the use of five emoji’s, and then at the fact that Helios had a private Starbucks reserved for board members and of course, Handsome Jack. He really shouldn’t be surprised, if you managed to get that high up on the chain you had a 20% chance of surviving the following 3 months, only 5 people known to have lasted that long, and of course the infamous two who currently are holding their position for almost 2 years. If your chances were slim, might as well reap the benefits of living the rich life.

Almost an hour later and Rhys was just around the corner from where he was supposed to meet Jack. He felt quite nervous, nerves jittering around his skin. He had no idea what was about to happen, but meeting with Jack could not end well.

He rounded the corner to see Jack casually leaning against the wall, eyes glued to his ECHO, fingers tapping away at the screen. 

“Uh.. Hi.” Rhys cringed at himself for not having a better greeting, this the CEO you’re talking to! Jack however didn’t seem to notice as he continue tapping away. Rhys could now see he was engrossed in a game, Star Shader by the looks of it. The fact that Handsome Jack was casually standing in the hallway of Helios, engrossed in a ECHO game outside of a Starbucks felt surprisingly normal. Like Rhys was almost expecting this, or had experienced it before. It was a weird feeling to say the least.

“Uh… Jack?” he tried again, to no avail. Seemed Jack was completely lost in his game, or he was purposely ignoring him. He really didn’t see any other options, so Rhys carefully nudged Jack’s arm with a nervous trepidation. 

Out of habit, Jack snatched his hand around whoever was standing next to him’s throat, anger bubbling inside at interrupting his very important game.

“Uh, Ja-ack- I’m sorry- I just-” Jack whipped his head to look at who he was strangling.

Rhys didn’t know why, but it was clear Jack understood it was Rhys and lessened the pressure against his throat, but he didn’t take his hand away completely. An intense but masked look gazed Jack’s eyes and Rhys peered up at him, apple bobbing when he swallowed, unsure. Jack shifted his eyes up to Rhys’, staring into his irises, a lone thumb brushing across the skin of his jugular. 

Just as suddenly, Jack let go and turned towards the door beside him.

“Remind me to give you access, they serve the BEST coffee. Mostly because I deserve it.” He laughed, letting himself inside but stopping short when Rhys hadn’t moved. “You coming dum dum? I don’t have all goddamn day” Rhys blinked, autopiloting through the doorway, his head still wrapped in a trance.

Rhys didn’t have time to think about what just took place as Jack ordered his drink, both him and the barista waiting on Rhys to order.

“Uhh a... “ he hesitated, unsure if he should order his usual. “A cotton candy frapp” he mumbled, staring at his suddenly fascinating shoes. Jack raised an eyebrow, curious, but didn’t say anything. He pulled out his wallet to pay, which he technically didn’t need to do, but he was feeling generous and that in of itself was a gift. 

A few minutes later both men were sitting at a table, Jack scrolling through a folder on his ECHO hologram so Rhys could see.

“OKaaay so while you were knocked out, which by the way don’t ever leave until I say” he gave a pointed look at Rhys. “and it says here you work in Programming. I happen to have this sweet awesome blueprint for a new weapon I’m designing, but I need another opinion. Of course the gun will be great either way, I mean I’m the one designing it, but yeah. Any idea and just lemme know. By that, I mean tomorrow morning, my office.” Jack paused to send the file to Rhys’ ECHO. 

Jack took a long sip of his coffee before hardening his gaze on Rhys, a serious stare. Immediately Rhys sat up straight, clearing his throat before Jack got pissed at him for leaning back or something. He figured he’s probably not about to be fired or killed, considering he was just asked for opinions on an unreleased gun blueprint, but Jack was known to be very unpredictable. 

“So Rhys… tell me. Are you happy with your current position?” 

Okay not what he was expecting. “Yes? I mean ah… I love the work I do but that doesn’t always mean I enjoy the position I’m in. The current Head of Programming often leaves us with his own work to finish which can make meeting deadlines difficult, but the work is enjoyable so…” he trailed off not sure what he was suppose to say, exactly.

“Great, well lemme tell you we had this hilarious incident late last night. I mean it could’ve not been hilarious but still. Aaaanyways, the body of your department head, Wallethead, as I used to call him crashed into one of our cargo ships. Nearly caused the shipment not to land inside the cargo bay, but whatever, he’s dead now and I need a new Head of Programming. Congratulations, you’re my new department head!” Jack smiled, clapping his hands.

Rhys took a second to absorb this new information in. Head of Programming. He’s finally made it! I mean, sure, it’s not board member level, but it’s one of the top spots at Hyperion. To dream of having a position since he arrived 4 years ago, to actually being in that position now… it was incredible. Rhys felt an overwhelming sense of pride from within, realizing he is actually going somewhere. He loved his work, and this was the icing on the cake.

“Uh, I didn’t scare you into shock, did I Rhysie?” 

Rhys perked his head back up at Jack. “Rhysie?” he asked, eyebrow raised. 

Jack growled, narrowing his eyes. “I give you a promotion, in person, and you’re asking me about your own name?” he said, gesturing to himself. Rhys watched as Jack took his fist and knocked it on Rhys’ skull. “Keep up dumdum.” 

“I just… thankyou?” Rhys stuttered as he rubbed the back of his head, wincing. 

“There we go! Good to know someone is still alive in there. Well I gotta go, remember I want opinions by tomorrow morning, my office!” He called, picking up his drink and striding out of the place.

Rhys let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and collapsed into the back of his chair. 

“Holy shit.”

__________________________________

 

Rhys sat forward on the couch, swallowing the last of his pizza as Vaughn and Yvette sat either side of him enjoying their own food.

“Guys, I have something really great to tell you. Like, awesome amazing great” He said, fidgeting in his seat.

“Wait wait wait, let me guess… You passed by Jack in the hallway today and now you’re fawning over it?” Yvette teased him, always going for the totally not obvious crush he had on Jack.

“Bro, I do NOT need to hear another hallway story. I’ve have enough to last like 13 lifetimes” Vaughn stated, face palming.

“Guys, please!” Rhys paused, looking at his two best friends for a rather dramatic effect. “I got promoted to Head of Programming.”

“Isn’t that Vasquez’s position? He didn’t fake promote you to get some sick revenge did he?” One more reason Rhys loved Vaughn, always looking out for him. Such a great bro.

“No. So apparently he got airlocked, Jack said his body crashed into a cargo shipment last night, it was this whole ordeal. Anyways, he said I’m the only qualifying employee left, so the job is mine!” Rhys turned to smile at his friends, still excited as ever for the promotion but his friends weren’t smiling, instead looking quite concerned.

“Jack promoted you? How, when, and most importantly why?” Vaughn asked.

“Guys, it’s fine. He invited me out for coffee and actually he gave this blueprint for a new weapon he’s designing, was hoping I could get some opinions on it. He’s a nice guy, when he’s not strangulating or airlocking half the station.” 

“Bro it sounds like he’s playing some sick game with you. When you die I’m totally calling dibs on your sock collection!” Vaughn laughed, immediately stopping when Yvette glared at him.

“Rhys, Jack doesn’t do ‘nice’. He’s not a good person and this sounds like he’s trying to get something out of you. What happens when you’re no longer useful?” Yvette said, gently resting her hand on Rhys’ wrist out of concern for her friend. 

“I’ll just be really careful then, okay? Besides, he’s asking me for opinions on a gun so I have at least until that’s done to live, right?”

“Just be careful bro. What’s the weapon blueprint anyways?” Vaughn asked, helping himself to more pizza. 

Rhys pulled up the file on his ECHO, showing it to his friends. The gun was one of Hyperion’s first adventures into Elemental damage, but it was mostly just another gun. At least on the market.

Yvette grabbed the ECHO rushing over all the details, seemingly excited about a gun. “What if instead of a single element, we had multiple? Like, if there was an injector that could customize each bullet, like the one Jen was doing testing on, the ER 180? It’d have to be modified of course. You would then have the buttons for changing it on the side, small and color coded. Rhys you could program the chip to allow all that, right?”

Rhys and Vaughn stared at Yvette.

“Uhh yeah… I could probably program that in. Thanks, Yvette” Rhys added, shrugging at Vaughn.

“I thought you worked in HR! When did you become so involved in weapon design, Yvette?” Vaughn asked watching as she continued scrolling through the blueprint files.

“I have a lot free time, gotta find something to fill the space.” She said nonchalantly, reaching and grabbing another piece of pizza.

_________________________________

Jack was currently standing at his kitchen counter, folding a napkin into a little bird, which he won’t admit to liking fancy folding napkins, as his head spun over and over the thoughts of what happened this morning.

Before he met with Rhys he had to deal with yet another incompetent employee who just could not do their job right. Or at least Jack assumed he didn’t. The guy was about 4 months into the job at Hyperion yet he still had not grasped the notion that when Jack asks you to hand in a sales report, you do so with extreme thoroughness and deliver it ON TIME. First off, this stupid kid had the balls to show up late, and when Jack commented on the ugly ass sweater he wore, he tried to call him out on being rude. He didn’t live longer than a few minutes. 

Of course Rhys had decided to show up right then, and Jack could’ve sworn something about the kid had been enjoying watching? He certainly wasn’t scared or grossed out, in fact seemed to watch his every move with a certain concupiscence, posture poised.

This sent Jack into watching Rhys which was becoming a very bad habit, since he started casually having his second monitor with a live security feed of Rhys’ office. There was just something about Rhys that made him more cheerful? Excited? It was a refreshing break from the usual workflow not to mention how good looking Rhys was. Jack wished he knew of this kid before, more time to admire those long legs. But Handsome Jack has standards to hold up, and lusting after an employee was only a bad move.

Either way, Rhys was going on about a kick ass multi-elemental bullet and Jack has done nothing but scrutinize the detail of Rhys’ face, memorizing each and every line or curve. Jack loved that his dual-coloured eyes matched his own, a collection of blue and green against brown and blue, sometimes orange. 

Jack had been so busy studying his face he completely missed the fact that Rhys had stopped talking, waiting almost expectantly at Jack to say something. “That’s looks great, do whatever you need to do.” Jack had said, he could see the slight hurt in the kids eyes though. Jack being an asshole and ruining things, yet again.  
“Dad, you’ve folded that napkin 6 times over.” He heard a small voice beside him, looking over to Angel staring up at him with concern. He looked down to realize that he had in fact been folding the same napkin repeatedly, never reaching its destination of being a small bird. 

“Sorry there Angel, got distracted.” Jack paused his actions turning back to continue stirring pasta.

“Who’s ‘Rhys’?” she asked next, Jack suddenly turning towards her. “His name is on the file for the new weapon, and I’m guessing these are his notes too?” She said, reading over the blueprint notes.

“Yeah, I promoted Rhys to Head of Programming, he’s really a brilliant guy if I’m honest. He’s been in the position all of two days and already the work is caught up to par. His designs for this gun are actually truly brilliant, although I think he said something about a friend coming up with the idea but whatever, he gets the credit.” Jack ranted, serving their dinner onto plates.

“Do you like him Daddy?” Angel asked.

Jack sighed, turning back to his daughter who was way too smart for her age of 7. “He’s a real asset to company. So yes, I do like him.”

Angel stared back at him, eyes not believing a word he just said. Was the subtext really that obvious? Jack didn’t want Angel getting any wrong ideas, so he decided to leave it at that.

“Eat your dinner.” 

____________________________

It was later that night that Jack realized what he felt. He wasn’t just attracted to this programmer, no, he was falling in love. Okay maybe not love, because Jack doesn’t do love like that, but he just kept finding himself being attracted to Rhys more and more. Everything within his day had some sort of relevance to the kid, from fleeting thoughts to downright creepily watching him through security cameras.

It was becoming infuriating, and Jack hated every second of it. He supposed he could just ignore all this, let Rhys finish the gun prototype and never speak to him again. But that was boring, and Jack hated boring. Something had to be done about this. Either he went after Rhys to see where it all could lead, or he leaves it right now, never to be seen again.

The photo in the corner caught his eye, his heart fluttering. It was a picture of Angel and her mom, smiling at a beach on Eden-6 only a few days before Angel’s powers got out of control and resulted in his wife’s death. That was the last time Jack felt any sort of true joy or excitement, even with Angel around. He didn’t even know Rhys, didn’t have any sort of clue who he was outside of work but he lifted that emotion off his shoulders. Out of nowhere and Rhys was effecting Jack’s life in ways he least expected, it certainly was not unwelcome. 

“Oh fuck it” he muttered, pulling up his ECHO.

**To: Legs aka Reeeeeese :wink:**

**Jack: dinner on tuesday with me ill pick u up @7. nthing fancy. Xx**

Jack hummed contentedly and sent the text. Guess it time to figure out whether it’s worth his time to see where this goes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a Rhack playlist! You can listen to here: https://8tracks.com/epsilonfreak/i-ll-never-wear-your-broken-crown

“Guys, please, it’s not a date!” Rhys begged, squirming as Yvette fussed over his hair, making sure there was just the right amount of coiff but not so much as to make it look fake. Rhys was NOT the type of man to have perfectly done hair. He spent far too many nights awake and working to commit to beauty.

“You did just get promoted, bro! You’re not gonna die... probably.” called Vaughn from behind the couch where he currently was sprawled out.

Rhys really didn’t need Vaughn to tag on that “probably”. He was a bit shocked when he received the text, to be honest. He’s met Jack three times now and all three had him fearing for his life, so to be going out for dinner with the man was weird to say the least. He should be thinking about what he’ll say and do during said dinner because if Rhys fucks this up, Jack may just decide he’s no longer needed and throw him out an airlock. Honestly dying by the hands of Jack seemed a better way to go than to report back to Felix he’d been fired and kicked off the station, which would most likely end in his death anyways. 

“Rhys, take a few deep breaths” Yvette’s calming words brought him back to reality where his friends were watching him, concerned. Three days and it was already taking a major toll on him, he was going to get himself caught if he didn’t get his focus on point. 

“Sorry, mind wandered off. I’m okay guys, really! He probably just wants to talk over the weapon designs and you know Jack, he likes to be fancy and extravagant! Right?” Rhys gabbled, trying to keep his nerves under control.

“Just act normal, and be yourself! Well, maybe let him ask the questions and respond with the most appropriate answer but still, I’m sure the night will go just fine.” Yvette assured him, standing back to admire her work. She turned him towards the mirror, and Rhys had to admit, he looked pretty good. It was nothing fancy, just a pair of black jeans and a white tee shirt accompanied by Hyperion yellow sneakers.

“Wow Yvette, I must say you make things look good.” Rhys said.

Yvette smirked back at him, obviously proud of her talent. It was then that the doorbell rang, Vaughn pausing his game to peek his head out from behind the couch. “Should I hide?” He asked. Yvette glared at him, telling him to be quiet. Rhys took a deep breath and pulled the door open.

“Sup.” Jack said, standing casually with his arms crossed. “Daaaamn pumpkin, you look good. Better than the bitch face glaring at me behind you” Rhys turned to see Yvette was in fact glaring at Jack.

“I want him home, ALIVE and in good mental condition. You got it?” She said, crossing her arms to stand defensively against her friend. 

Before Jack could say anything else, Rhys stepped between them interrupting the angry looks, prompting Jack to back out of the doorway. “Okay guys thanks, I’ll see you later tonight, let’s just leave now?” 

Jack growled quietly before backing away as Rhys shut the door behind them. “I’m sorry that’s Yvette, she can be kinda bitchy sometimes, you know like defensive and stuff. She’s really just looking out for me, I mean all friends do, same with Vaughn although he was hiding behind the couch when you arrived so uh yeah sorry about that, I promise it won’t ha-” Rhys was shut up by Jack putting his finger over his lips, heart skipping a beat.

“Rhysie relax. I’m not here to do a extravagant killing, or firing. I want to have dinner with you, you said yes and that’s what we’re gonna do. No more ranting, unless it’s the good kind, got it?” Jack said while he opened the car door for him.

Rhys nodded as he got in, trying and failing to get his nerves under control. This was not starting out on a good foot. 

The ride there was short and quiet, the only noise being the humming of the vehicle as it drove through the roads of Helios. The station had three highways, two of them running up the lengths on the H, the third attaching the two and twisting to fit around the Eye of Helios. Only high ranked employee’s and cargo workers had vehicles but the amazing transit system on the station gave every other employee, Rhys included, a great way to get around. 

They pulled up to a white building, soft lights twinkling overhead lighting up the almost real plant life lining the walkway. Jack hopped out of the car, waiting for Rhys by the entrance. 

“Uhh don’t you need to like, park? The car?” he asked.

Jack laughed, “Everyone worships me like a god, I can park wherever the hell I want and no one will say a damn thing. Also I had my personal chef take over the restaurant so we can have the place to ourselves.” He said, entering the building. 

Rhys swallowed thickly, palms starting to sweat. He needed to pause, take a few deep breaths and get his nerves under control again. Rhys blamed his lack of social interaction when he was growing up. Having lived as an assassin for 10 years, it didn’t exactly leave you with time to make friends, let alone have a decent conversation with a stranger. Rhys was a sniper, he sat far back and watched the interactions going on unlike Fiona who could only converse her way through life. He reminded himself to ask her for some social tips. 

“I thought you said nothing fancy?” Rhys asked, gaping at the inside. White table cloths adorned mahogany tables, a set of yellow and white flowers in the centre of each. A hologram of the galaxy coated the ceiling, casting a dim purple glow over the setting as sparkling white lights mimicked the light of the stars. A waiter in a black tuxedo stood next to a table, white serviette neatly folded over his arm. 

“Rhys, I’ve seen the way you dress. You wouldn’t own a single item that was fancy and looked good. Besides, who the hell likes to dress up? Casual clothes are the best” Jack mused, sitting down at the table. 

“My clothes look fine! And I like my current work outfit thank you very much.” Rhys defended.

Jack snorted, looking at Rhys. “Your current work outfit sucks. You should wear stuff like that more often, you look hot” Jack said, gesturing to Rhys’ current clothes. Rhys blushed, looking anywhere but Jack.

The waiter next to them gave a quiet ‘ahem’ before asking what they would like to drink.

Jack insisted they have his personal favourite wine while they eat, in which Rhys wouldn’t have complained if it weren’t for the fact that Rhys did not handle his alcohol. One glass would make him nearly drunk, which was not something he wanted to be in front of Jack. 

“So Rhysie, tell me about your origin story. How’d you end up on Helios as my awesome Head of Programming?” Jack asked, eating a fancy looking tomato on a cracker.

Rhys was very thankful that Felix made sure they all memorized their supposed “origin” stories, and thankfully Rhys’ was so similar to his actual past, he wasn’t exactly lying. 

“Oh um… well I grew up on Pandora with my uncle, he ran a gun shop in Wayward Pass. He was great at fixing guns and taught me everything I know about weapons. But I had a previously injured arm and by the time I was 13 I could no longer use it, so instead of fixing physical weapons, I would take the motherboard chips and use the computer we had to fix them. Kinda stuck with me I guess. And uh, then Hyperion was asking for volunteers to test out the newest line of Cybernetic arms so I went for it and I don’t know, I decided that I also wanted the eye, which was kinda stupid because like 2 people survived the initial trial out of 20, guess I was one of the lucky ones” Rhys awkwardly laughed, distracting himself with wine.

“I saw that, definitely an outdated model. Had an idea for a new line of arms that I was thinking of greenlighting, which you are totally gonna help test.” Jack said looking at Rhys warmly. 

“Yeah I’d love to help! Uh, thanks Jack” Rhys smiled to himself. 

“Okay enough about you. I’m sure you’re dying to ask me questions so I’m giving you the offer of a lifetime. You get to ask the one and only Handsome Jack, thats me, whatever question you want and I’ll answer. Just avoid my past and you won’t get strangled. Capiche?” he asked, smirking.

He could ask whatever question he wanted, well almost every question, and Jack would answer. Rhys took a moment to think about it. Funny, Rhys had idolized the man for so many years dying to ask him anything and yet in the moment he could not think of one. 

“Uhh… I don’t really have anything I want to ask, exactly.” Rhys questioned, brow furrowed.

“Oh come on, there’s gotta be something! Like what is the difference between strangulation and choking? Or what is my dick size? Which is 12 inches by the way.” Jack said smiling, licking his lower lip. Rhys’ face immediately went bright red as he furiously tried to not think of that right now. 

Jack laughed at his reaction. “Literally anything” he said.

Rhys coughed, trying to think of anything but what new information he had on Jack that was rapidly increasing the tightness of his pants. “Uhh okay. Tell me one of your stories from Pandora? I heard you spent what, like, 7 years down there? What was that like?”

Jack sighed, “Pandora…” He pondered for a moment, figuring out one of the better stories as he sipped his wine.

“Oh I know a good one! Yeah, it started off as a business meeting with Jakobs and by the end half the facility was dead and get this, it wasn’t even me! Some stupid bandit group, I guess, had beef with them and fucked up their operations. Actually ended up costing me a lot of money in the end.” Jack frowned, leaning back in his chair. 

“Costing you money? Why?” Rhys asked, trying to not think on the fact that his team had destroyed a Jakobs facility about 8 years ago. But they had tons of different weapon bases, bandits could storm literally any one of them at any time meaning it probably wasn’t Rhys.

“I was trying to make a deal with Jakobs that went against those douchebags Dahl. Hyperion helps them financially to get sales up, but they had to cut all connections to Dahl, which as you probably know they used their chips and barrel parts so cutting off that supply would leave a massive dent in their production. Thanks to me though I let them use Hyperion parts and of course after that group blew up their frickin’ base I had to help pay for repairs. Sucks, doesn’t it?” Jack frowned, clearly still a little bitter about the whole thing.

“As you know I worked in my uncle's shop my whole life, so I’m not familiar with how major corporations work. How do bandits even take over a facility like that anyways? Shouldn’t the building be well protected and guarded?” Rhys asked, knowing his lie would swoop right by Jack.

“That’s a good question Rhysie… I honestly have no idea. From what I could tell they already knew the building with security clearance. Must’ve been an inside operation. And oh man, you should’ve seen this sniper though! He was scarily accurate! Like at one moment the dudes assistant was full on sprinting towards us the next his entire head was popped off! Man I’ll never forget the look on his face, hilarious!” Jack laughed, not noticing Rhys’ increasingly pale skin.

So that was Team RAFS Jack saw. They had done an undercover employee position, similar to what they were doing right now but only for a few months. They had planned to capture the CEO but Sasha said there was a complication in getting to the location where it was safe to tranquilize him. Rhys now assumed Jack must’ve done something to protect him and pull him out of that fight. It had gotten a little out of control when August accidentally shot a tank of liquid Spiderant venom which was known to explode when it depressurized too quickly. Let’s just say they blew up more of the base than originally planned. Judging by Jack’s laughter and overall obliviousness to the situation it seemed safe to say that Jack wouldn’t put two and two together. Rhys knew for a fact that he hadn’t been seen, I mean he was hiding 40 feet above the floor in the catwalks but he couldn’t say the same for his friends.

They continued talking during their meal, Jack telling more stories of his Pandoran adventures and being peticularly entertained by how drunk Rhys was off of so little wine. The kid had barely finished his second glass and was already slurring his words, a glassed but cute look in his eyes. 

“Okay Rhysie, time to head back home, let’s get you up” Jack said, helping Rhys stand upright. He practically dragged him out of the restaurant as Rhys sprouted off sentences of nonsense, head rolling against Jack’s chest. Jack got the car door open, trying to nudge him into sitting down instead of clasping onto him for support.

“Look Rhys, you gotta sit down yoursel-” 

“Shh shh shh…. I wanna say… You’re really hot, you know that?” Rhys slurred out, trying to turn his head to look at Jack but failing as his neck just hanged there. Jack watched as Rhys leaned forward, now only inches from face. It was then that he tried to lean in to kiss Jack, but in his drunken state he missed and ended up kissing Jack’s jaw instead. 

“Whoops” he smiled, finally sitting down in the car. Jack stood frozen, mind trying to process what happened. Had Rhys actually just tried to kiss him? I mean sure, Jack had kinda hoped Rhys felt the same way as his massive crush on the kid was only growing by the second. But on the other hand, he wasn’t even sure if Rhys reciprocated his own feelings, let alone even liked him as a person. So far Rhys hadn’t exactly made any intentions clear, but surely he would have by now if he was, right? Jack decided to leave it for tonight, Rhys was drunk out of his mind and alcohol made you do stupid things, it could have been a mistake. 

He really hoped it wasn’t.

______________________________________

“So Mike is another spy from Tediore that plans to open the vault and use it to take down Hyperion?” Fiona asked as the team sat inside their current base of operations, which consisted of an abandoned apartment building in the lower west wing of Helios. No one had been in this section for a least 10 years, it too was a part of the Crius District where the old R&D used to be.

Rhys nodded, looking over his files on the torture session of Vasquez. “Says here Mike started working at Hyperion 3 years ago, came as a Torgue Intern that works in robotics, specifically grenades department. Seems like the internship went well enough that he works full time, even has a team who works in his own lab.” Rhys stated, handing the folder over to August.

“So what are we gonna do about this? I didn’t really think we’d have competition in who can kill Jack first.” August grunted.

“There won’t be a competition. We need to kill Mike ourselves before he starts this disaster.” Fiona said, turning towards Sasha who was currently sat at the ECHOnet computer, browsing any and all information she could get her hands on.

“I’m glad you asked, Fi. Looks like he has an assistant named Jordan, and judging by some of these audio transcripts, he knows what’s up. We should take care of him first.” She nodded, looking back at her friends.

“Sounds good to me. Want to get this over with tonight?” Rhys asked.

The group agreed with him, deciding that later tonight they would seize the opportunity of offing Jordan, but not before they got all the information they could about him. Unfortunately for Rhys, the home Jordan stayed in was a cubicle attachment to the lab he worked in, obviously keeping an eye on it at all hours, but the entire laboratory was quite enclosed. This meant Rhys couldn’t watch over the action from above and he would strongly disagree it wasn’t because that he got scared of close combat, he needed the long sightlines for the best position possible! His other team members knew better though.

10 hours later Rhys and Sasha stood outside the emergency exit door that led into the lab Jordan was currently working inside. Fiona was watching him through the security cameras and August was supposed to be there helping them, but his manager called him in for security on a recent cargo ship arrival that he couldn’t miss. Rhys hated him just a little bit for leaving it up to the three of them. August was really good at keeping someone from fighting back being the VP of Security, a position that took a few years for him to prove himself worthy of having. Rhys actually wondered why Felix didn’t just ask August to do the Handsome Jack part as he interacted with him far more often, but then again, August was never really supposed to get this high up on the chain of command. It just sort of happened and the team certainly wasn’t complaining. 

“Okay you’re gonna take left side of bed, I’ll take right. Watch for a weapon I’m sure this guy has one hidden on him at all times” Sasha whispered as she unlocked the door on her ECHO.

“Light are out, looks like he sleeping already. Should be good to go” Fiona spoke over comms, giving the go ahead. They slowly opened the door, tip toeing inside. Rhys wasn’t usually within the action, and he really wasn’t great at seeing in the dark in a 3D space. So when the sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the room, and their target Jordan instantly scrambled out of bed with Sasha glaring scorch marks into Rhys, he held back an annoyed “I told you so”. He just wasn’t meant for close up anything. 

“RHYS” Fiona yelled in his ear, furious keyboard clicks in the background. He winced at the harsh tone, noticing as the security measures in place started to power up one by one. 

“Fi, get those turned off! It’ll alert the whole station if it fires!” Sasha yelled, not even caring about being heard. She dashed behind a cart of supplies before Rhys could comprehend that Jordan was now running in the pitch black room about to kill them.

Suddenly something jumped on him from behind, Rhys let out a yell as they toppled forward, his metal arm catching him. 

“You’re so dead” the guy whispered eerily, taking his knife and swinging it at Rhys. Luckily Rhys had rather quick reaction times making his swing useless as their positions switched, Jordan now pinned by Rhys.

Except Jordan was strong, and even with Rhys using his cybernetic arm he was pushed aside as the other man jumped up. Several swipes were taken at Rhys but he was able to block them. The pattern was the same, all he had to do was catch his arm with his metal hand and twist it broken. He saw opportunity and took it, smirking as the swings abruptly stopped and he rendered Jordan's hand useless. 

He suddenly hissed in pain as his flesh arm stung like a thousand bees. The fucker had a second knife, stabbing his arm! Before he could do anything though, Sasha appeared out of nowhere and jumped him from behind. She no longer cared what happened at this point, just that Jordan died and is exactly what she did. His lifeless body slumped to the ground in a wet thud, small pool of blood leaking from his wounds.

“You’ve already died, but nice try” She mocked, grinning as she picked her knife up.

“Ah shit… This is gonna need medical attention” Rhys said, trying to keep the flesh of his arm together. The knife had dug fairly deep but it hadn’t touched the bone, a blessing. No way can Rhys explain why his arm would be in a cast considering he worked at a computer all day and night.

“Oh no, Rhys, hold on just let me tie this” Sasha said, quickly grabbing her band of cloth and tying it tight around the wound. “Fi, Rhys is hurt, did you get those turrets to cancel? I need to get him out of here asap, can you come and help clean this up while we go to Medical?”

“Yes, and yes, be down in 2 minutes!” she yelled, her voice already traveling away from the microphone. 

“We gotta get this out before we go, I can’t explain why you were near a knife designed to kill without it being suspicious. Ready?” She asked, hand posed on the handle.

Rhys nodded and took a deep breath in. Just as he let it out, Sasha ripped the knife out of his wound causing blood to spurt out. 

“Fuck!” Rhys shouted in pain, crippling over. 

“Hold on hold on, I gotta get this tied up” Sasha rushed out as she got the second piece of cloth tied on. “There we go, shit, okay we gotta go now” 

They rushed out the door and down to medical to explain how Rhys had been cooking, trying to show them them a knife trick and accidentally tripped and sliced his own arm. Meanwhile Fiona got August out of the meeting to help her make Jordan’s death look like an accident, so that Mike didn’t get suspicious and start his plans early.  
______________________________

A couple of days later Rhys was lounging in his office, feet perched on a stack of boxes and funny cat video compilations playing on his computer. He probably should be working but a new project had been causing some very late nights for him, he figured he deserved at least one peaceful hour to relax.

However, it seemed to turn not so peaceful as none other than Jack casually strolled through the door like he’d done it a billion times before.

“Wassup pumpkin?” 

“Hey Jack. Do you need anything?” He asked, not really looking away from the screen. 2 weeks and he was already getting comfortable having the CEO’s presence near him, not good.

Jack snorted, walking over behind Rhys’ chair and leaning on the back to peer at the monitor. “Whatcha watching?” 

Rhys raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Funny cat videos. Oh see this cat right here, it’s trying to use the shoe as a shield for the toy!” Rhys laughed as the cat kicked the shoe causing it to topple over his head like a hat. Rhys looked up to Jack, watching him curiously as he seemed to be intrigued by the videos. 

“Cute.” He said, standing back up to look over the office. “Your decoration in here sucks. Makes me wanna puke” He sniffed, staring down at Rhys.

Rhys blinked, “It’s an office? Is it suppose to look nice or something?” he asked, confused.

“I do a such a good job at laying everything out for you guys, making the walls and floors appealing with these sweet ass shelves and you’ve gone and covered them in waste paper.” Jack tisked at him, walking over to said shelf and starting to push several stacks of paper off of it. Rhys watched as Jack tidied up his office, moving plants and furniture around to his liking. Guess the man had a stroke for interior design. 

“So what did you think of that restaurant we went to? Pretty great huh?” Jack asked from across the room, head buried inside a large cubby full of various computer parts.

“It was good, I mean… the food was decent but the atmosphere was the best. Felt like I was floating in space the whole time. Although the wine might’ve contributed to that” Rhys laughed awkwardly, eyes still strained to his computer.

Jack tensed at the mention of drunk Rhys, remembering that he almost kissed him. “So ah, what do you remember of the night? Like after the dinner?” he asked.

Rhys seemed scrunched his eyebrow in, thinking on what did he remember. “I actually can’t remember anything… god how drunk was I? I only had two glasses of wine” he groaned, thunking his head on the desk.

Jack laughed, “You were pretty drunk, Rhys.”

“I didn’t do anything stupid right? Oh god please tell me I didn’t like trip and take the entire table down with me” he said, voice muffled into the desk.

So Rhys didn’t remember what happened. Jack was actually kinda glad about that, it was starting to show that he at least tolerated Jack, which meant there was hope for reciprocating feelings. Man, social relationships are hard, Jack thought. He sighed, standing up to glance around the office. “Nah you didn’t do anything stupid. Mostly just talked nonsense, going on about the stars on the ceiling. Aaanyways, I want coffee. Let’s go.”

Rhys looked up to see his office empty, door swinging shut behind Jack. He spotting him waiting outside the office as he stared down the terrified employees on his floor. He sighed, striding over to the man. 

“Jack stop scaring my workers, we have so much work right now.” He pleaded, trying to get them out of there as quickly as possible. He did not need his employees to think Jack was about to kill them all. 

“Whatever, just checking in” He said nonchalantly, following Rhys outside and into the hallway. 

The walk to Starbucks was quiet as Rhys walked slightly a few feet behind the CEO. He didn’t want people to get the wrong idea or something, or stare at him with pitying looks like he was on his death row walk. He planned to order his drink separately after Jack had gone so as not to associate himself with Jack, but the plan went down the drain and he was suddenly yanked forward by Jack to pull him next to him, the CEO’s arm resting gently on his shoulders.

“Stop walking like you don’t want to be noticed, unless you’d rather not be around me, which would be kinda dumb, Rhysie” Jack laughed, looking at Rhys. He was the CEO of Hyperion and the hero of world, no way Rhys wouldn’t want to be around him. Jack would never admit he’d be a bit hurt if Rhys said yes, and left. 

“Ah… Sorry” he replied sheepishly. “It’s just kinda weird, for a lowly employee like myself to be walking down the hallway with you, of all people.”

Both were rather thankful that they had arrived at their destination, not wanting to go about the subject any longer, although emotions and thoughts rampaged through Jack’s head. He could not stop thinking about the fact that he was falling for Rhys. He didn’t even fully comprehend his own emotions! It had been so many long, painful years that he shut those feelings off, even if he had Angel.

Jack learned not to trust people, ever, after being betrayed by so many people he once called friends. Yet here he was just throwing everything he built around him, all for a random stranger he met over a security camera named Rhys, falling in love with him like a crushing highschooler. Jack was honestly a little pissed off, because he always gets what he wants but for the first time in his life, he didn’t want to ruin all chances he has. But maybe Rhys was too timid to make the first move? Jack needed to let Rhys know his intentions soon, otherwise he might lose this opportunity forever. 

“Uh Jack, where are you going?” Rhys asked, confused as he was pretty the sure the main elevator was to his right, not left.

“Back door entrance, I don’t wanna deal with people right now.” Jack said, dragging Rhys by the arm towards what he had once assumed was a janitor’s closet. Jack swiped his keycard into the door, opening to reveal a rather nice white and yellow hallway that ended at another doorway.

“Do you actually like cotton candy frapps?” Jack asked.

Rhys laughed, “Uh yeah, it’s technically just vanilla and raspberry syrup though. Back home my mom would always have a jar of raspberry jelly and she would give some to me as a treat. Kinda became a habit I guess?” he said, shrugging. 

Jack stopped, just as they reached the door. “I thought you lived with your Uncle?”

Rhys paused, face blanching. “Uh.. I did. That was, um, before everything. Anyways” Rhys coughed, reaching out to grab the door. The thought of his past distracted him and he completely forgot that his human arm was currently wrapped in bandage, exposing it in plain view. 

“Woah woah woah, Rhysie, what the hell happened to your arm?” Jack suddenly said, grasping Rhys’ arm to search over the bandage.

“Uhh nothing, it’s fine, I just- it’s fine” He rushed out. He was caught off guard, now really unsure what to say, as Jack walked him backwards into the wall, trapping him.

“It doesn’t look like nothing. Someone didn’t try to harm you, did they?” he growled, irises darkening. “I swear I will slowly and painfully rip apart anyone who dares to touch you”

“Look, Jack, it’s fine! I just tripped while cooking and got my arm sliced, it’s really no big deal. I’m sorry for making it seem like it was someone else, I really didn’t mean too! Sorry I’ll be more careful in the kitchen, or anywhere, really, like ah.. Sorry.” He finished weakly.

Jack moved in closer, face now inches away. “Rhys stop. Apologizing. That’s for workers who fuck shit up and beg as I send them to the airlock. I could never... harm you…” Jack glanced down before staring deep in Rhys’ eyes. 

Suddenly the world seemed to freeze as Rhys felt a pair of lips press into his with a strong passion. Was Jack kissing him? His eyes popped wide open to see that yes, Jack was in fact kissing him right now. His thought were a jumbled mess, not even sure how to process all of this which may have contributed to his next action. Just as Jack pulled away, a hurt look on his face, he reached forward and kissed him back, hand resting on Jack’s jaw. Except now Jack seemed to be frozen in place, unmoving, body stiff.

“Rhys… I…” and with that, Jack suddenly backed away and out the door, a loud thud closing it behind him leaving Rhys alone in the hallway, perplexed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not happy with how this chapter turned out, but it's been sitting for a week and nothing has come to me so I figured I'll just go ahead and post it.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, please leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed, or had any comments/questions, anything really. ^_^


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I'm not dead! I finally got this story in motion again, we shall see if I'm able to post in a timely manner this time around. Enjoy!

3 days ago, Jack had kissed him. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was. Rhys had always known he had a crush on Jack, but never actually thought he’d get past that stage, let alone have Jack reciprocate some type of feelings for him. Did Jack reciprocate though? Jack had kissed him first… So that had to mean something right? Rhys groaned as it dawned on him that Jack could have accidentally kissed him, somehow, and then when he went to try and kiss back Jack froze, realizing his mistake. Great. 

So he just showed the CEO of Hyperion, Handsome goddamn Jack, the man he was suppose to capture and kill, that he had a massive, fanboy, good ol’ fashioned crush on him. 

“Yep, I’m a dead man” he muttered, the code he was suppose to be focusing on flying past him without a sense of comprehension. 

“Why on earth would you say you’re dead?” a voice said beside him, causing Rhys to jump in his chair as he whipped around to see none other than Jack gazing on his crumpled form. 

Rhys sat there, mouth open, as he tried to find something to say. 

Jacks look of disdain didn’t help. “Just seeing what you’re up to Rhysie. The only person who is allowed to kill you is me, and rest assured I really don’t want that.” Jack said. “So whatcha workin’ on?” he asked after getting another silent response from Rhys.

Rhys clicked his brain on, finally, “Oh I’m working on…” He realized he had no idea what was open on his computer. He looked over at the screen, “Oh, I’m uh... working on the progress report from 3 years ago?” 

Jack snorted, amused. “You’re weird. Anyways pumpkin, I brought you something to liven up this pathetic desk of yours.” 

Jack handed him a mini figurine of a horse, coloured blue and pink, sparkling like it was made of diamonds. “Is this Butt Stallion?” Rhys asked, unsure what to make of it. 

“Nah, Butt Stallion is cased in the museum. This is a little figurine I made for Ang-, uh, someone. I had a few more made too, just incase.” 

“Thanks Jack… I love it.” Rhys said, setting the mini horse down next to his speakers. “And you don’t need to keep correcting her name. I think just about everyone working here knows about Angel” he added.

Jack stiffened but only for a second. “Yes well… Butt Stallion means a lot to her, so don’t let that get covered in papers or I might change my mind on keeping you alive” 

Rhys laughed, but it wasn’t long lasting. A sort of awkward silence filled the room, neither sure what to say next. Rhys debated in his head whether to ask Jack about the kiss or not, even though he had thought of every outcome possible already, which determined he was definitely was not asking. He just needed to see if Jack would make the first move, or if it was all a big mistake. The words Felix had spoken to him on the day he announced the mission loomed in the back of his mind. “Befriend Handsome Jack, in whatever means possible. You must become a part of his daily life”

Oh, fuck it.

“Hey Jack, can I ask you something?” He hesitantly asked, voice quivering slightly. 

“Shoot” Jack replied. 

“Why did you kiss me?” 

Rhys tensed, waiting for some harsh truth about how he was just a lowly employee that Jack was only keeping around for some sick experiment or something. 

Jack shrugged. “Cause I wanted to.” 

He snapped his head up to Jack, confused. “Wait but… Why? Like why did you kiss me, of all people? I’m just your average lowly employee, I mean nothing to higher ups, especially not the CEO. Like what have we been doing the past two weeks Jack? Going out to lunch, getting coffee together every morning, you taking me to a really fancy, nice restaurant, and then we just happen to, what, hang out? Almost every day?”

Jack opened his mouth like he going to say something, but Rhys cut him off.

“We shouldn’t friends, you shouldn’t be interested in someone like me, in fact the only reason you’re even using me is for some big social experiment right? Or is it out of boredom? You just got bored and then decided I was your new playtoy and ‘oh great Rhysie is all happy fun and cute and he does amazing programming but oh look he has a massive crush on me, better throw that thing away now’ even you were the one to kiss me first! I kissed back, Jack, and you just walked off like you forgot what you were doing. Like it was all some big mistake!” Rhys huffed, angry as he turned away from the man.

A moment passed, until he felt hands on his shoulders as he was spun around, face to face with Jack. “Rhys. I kissed you because I wanted to, because I’m just… I like you, a lot. You’re right, I’m not supposed to be like this. I can have whatever I goddamn want, but here I was bored on a Sunday afternoon when I met you, and now I can’t stop thinking about you.” Jack huffed, crossing his arms as he leaned back on the desk.

”I don’t know what it is, I just enjoy being around you and I mean don’t get me wrong, you’re sexy as fuck, but I find myself walking into your office before I even realize it. I just want to be around you, and I always get what I want” Jack finished, Rhys realizing that Jack didn’t know how to express his feeling very well.

It took more than second for this to set in. Handsome Jack was falling for Rhys, and that was scary. 

“So where do you want this to go?” he whispered, daring to peer at Jack. His face was blank, hidden behind a thick shell. Rhys really wished he could see any sort of emotion at all in Jack, because quite frankly he was known to spontaneously start choking people and that was something Rhys didn’t want to have happen to him. Again. 

Jack sighed, rubbing absently at his temple. “So you feel the same way then?” he asked.

Rhys nodded, “Yes.”

The pair stood there, letting those facts sink in. A fork in the road was beginning and neither wanted to pick the wrong path, but neither wanted to pick any path at all. 

At last, Jack spoke after a heavy sigh, standing fully upright. “Rhys, look. I want this, I truly do, I’m too curious not to. But I just… everytime time I let someone into my life, even just for a second, they betray me in the end. I always get stabbed in the back, and I will never allow that to happen again” He growled, leaning on the arms of Rhys’ chair as he made his point crystal clear. 

Rhys shied away from Jack, whether it was out of fear or heartbreak he didn’t know. 

“Then uh.. I guess this is goodbye? Since this isn’t really a good idea and I mean the last thing I want to do is to jeopardize your own trust and safety so I guess…” Rhys trailed off, trying to keep his voice steady but only just managing. He knew his mission, but maybe in the bravado of it all, he had forgotten the true purpose, the force that drove behind it all. He needed to tell Felix as soon as possible. Turn himself in and say he failed, that he was done and he’d take whatever sentence was waiting for him. 

He didn’t need to though, as Jack turned Rhys towards him and planted his lips on his in a scared, but determined kiss. It was over in a second as Jack pulled back, but only just. 

“Stop giving me that kicked puppy look, Rhysie. We…” he paused, still trying to decide if this was a good idea or not, “We should see where this goes, because I want you, and I’m Handsome god damn Jack. I get what I want.”

Rhys couldn’t help but smile. Jack didn’t just realize how relieved he was, in more ways than one. 

He nodded in response, “Okay.”

Jack actually smiled, like he was in a sort of relief too. Maybe this won’t be such a bad idea after all. “Great… but I have one more test you must pass, and it might determine your fate too. You have to have dinner with me and Angel. She’s way too smart for her age, she’ll know if somethings up before I do. Got it?” Jack asked, firm but also with a smile. 

Rhys sucked a breath in, “Sure, yeah. Sounds good, Jack” he smiled again, not quite reaching his eyes. 

“Great, you got any plans this week?” Jack asked, both of them were surprised Jack even asked at all. Normally he would just tell Rhys a date and expect him to be free.

“I think so… There is new grenade being tested and one of my friends invited me to watch some of the test phases, which I think will be after office hours. I’ll let you know?” he asked.

“Just give me a few days notice, Rhysie.”

__________________________________

Team RAFS gathered themselves later that night, ready to have this meeting with Mike. 

“Why even call us ‘RAFS’, huh? It’s just a combination of our names, why can’t we have something badass, like Salta3 is cool I guess, but I want a team name! Something that makes a statement!” Sasha had been ranting about various topics for the past several hours, as they waited around for Mike to book a testing chamber tonight. August was the one to learn Mike was going to be alone tonight, as you must always submit a request to Security before using a testing chamber, and after office hours. Tonight was the night, and this guy was taking his sweet time to confirm. 

“And why are we waiting around here anyways? I could be eating ice cream right now, or sharpening my knives again, or having great sex with my boyfriend!” 

“Oh, TMI Sash” Fiona groaned, covering her ears. “We need to be booking it down there the second he arrives, that’s why we are waiting. Anything yet, August?” 

Sasha kicked him in the shins, waking him up. “What’s happening? He here yet?” August shouted, sparking up. Fiona whipped the ECHO from his pocket, looking over the screen. 

“He confirmed, 9:30pm tonight. Let’s get this shit ready!”

Everyone went full speed as the members rushed around, making plans, getting files, papers and everything they might need. Fiona and Sasha took care of weapons, cameras and loose script they were to follow. August went off to make sure his security teams were nowhere near the area at that time, as a precaution. Rhys went ahead and programmed himself into the registered user list, they needed at least one person on that list if anything went wrong they would be able to explain why he (and his unregistered team) was there in the first place. “Always tie the loose ends” Felix had said, and they did exactly that. 

At 9:45 sharp the team and Mike stood inside testing chamber 9. Inside Mike stood by a desk, papers covering the surface, many confidential. Fiona in front of him, an inconsiderate glare plastered on her face, as a hardened gaze Rhys stood a few feet behind her. 

“You’re not getting that key, and killing me won’t change a single thing. You might as well stop wasting your time” Mike said.

“The key is useless, it’s probably a fake. We aren’t here for the key.” Fiona said, unmoving.

This seemed to catch Mike off guard, but he managed to retain his composure. “What are you here for, then?” 

“You.” Rhys said, a wicked sparkle in his eyes. He felt the adrenaline already starting to rush his veins as the excitement builded.

“Me.” Mike stated, a little more than confused. “Well like I already said, killing me doesn’t change anything, and as long as I’m alive you are all dead meat” He said, sure in his words.

Except team RAFS had a much different idea than to simply kill Mike and be done with it. 

“Well see herein lies the problem. You’re gonna be very much alive and trust me when I say this, you will give every ounce of knowledge you have when Rhys, here, tortures it out of you.” Fiona said to Mike, watching as his eyes went from smug to nervous. Rhys was well aware of the aura he gave off during an adrenaline rush, this time to his great advantage. 

Mike let out an disappointed sigh, flipping his hands up in a defeat of sorts. “Well, you might as well take these papers if I’m just going to be captured anyways.” He held the papers out to Fiona, who peered over them, cautious. 

“Fiona I don’t think you should-” Sasha’s voice in their ears was cut off as Fiona reached out to grab the papers but Mike was fast, and he had her in a choke hold before anyone knew what was happening. 

“Shoot me, and I blow us all up!” Mike shouted, yelling at the air vent where Sasha was lying with a scope aimed on him. “Yeah, make me look dumb like I didn’t know you were there! Idiots!” he yelled, crazed as he bent the knife a little more in Fiona’s neck. 

Rhys was charged, and he ran at Mike without thinking. Mike was still quicker though, and he used Fiona’s own struggling weight to send the two of them crashing into the storage lockers, causing one of the doors to bend inwards. 

“Idiots!” he yelled again, as he pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it to the ground. Rhys immediately recognized it as a gravity grenade. Gravity grenades pull objects surrounding the area into the grenade themselves, and launch whatever it grabbed back out. Everyone watched as it went off, the only object being pulled in however was another grenade, from the storage locker Rhys had crashed into.

It was the untested, “Blow your brains out” grenade, of which consisted of Eridium to cause an explosion that wouldn’t stop for 3 minutes straight.

Everyone’s eyes went wide as they realized what was about to happen. 

______________________________

Well beyond the time of appropriate office hours, Jack found himself lazily eating dinner at his desk, another late night. He was suppose to be finishing release documents for the launch of a new gun, but instead was watching stupid cat videos. Stupid Rhys wouldn’t stop talking about them when they hung out. Which was weird, because Jack didn’t just “hang out” with his employees, or anyone, really. Rhys seemed to the exception to this, as Jack more often than not found himself wandering over to Programming to see what the kid was up to. He really enjoyed their “dates” even if technically they weren’t. Although that one time Rhys tried to kiss him but missed by several inches after drinking too much wine at dinner lingered. Jack laughed at the memory, remembering Rhys only had 2 glasses of wine, which turned him into a blackout drunk. What a lightweight. 

He leaned forward to shove another spoonful of canned soup into his mouth when suddenly it splashed onto his face. He growled, as the warm liquid dripped off his mask. He wiped his face on the sleeve of his shirt, noticing his his desk was shaking too. He stood up and looked around.

The entirety of Helios was shaking.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for not updating in so long! I started school in september so I’ve been busy. But I’m making up for it by giving you a 6000+ word chapter, which is over twice as long as my usual length. Let’s hope chapter 9 comes out before Christmas.

Chapter Eight day and night, black and white

Rhys’ vision slowly came back to focus, his entire body in agony, like his brain was simultaneously being stabbed by a molten rod, and smashed inwards. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn’t allow it. The glass and fuselage of the room crunched underneath him as he rolled onto his side, collapsing back to the ground. Beside him lay Mike, who was almost unidentifiable. The fires spread across the room lit up his dead eyes, frozen in fear. Rhys blinked, trying to figure out what that constant ringing was. Suddenly Fiona appeared, crawling over to Rhys, panicked, as she feared for her best friends life. 

“Rhys! Rhys! Please be alive” she called, her figure coming into focus. 

“Fiona you… have to go.” he croaked out, failing to try and push her away. 

“Oh thank god you’re alive” she cried, clutching their bloodied and bruised hands together. 

“No, leave now. Before-” 

August and Sasha appeared above them, clearly relieved to see their friends alive. Rhys didn’t need to say a word, they knew that everyone but Rhys needed to leave, now. Security and Jack would arrive any second, the station under red alert. What would Jack think if he found three unauthorized persons inside a testing chamber that shook Helios as a whole? It wouldn’t take him longer than a day to discover who Mike was, and by association, their team with him. 

“Fi, we need to go now. Rhys will be fine.” Sasha said, both her and August trying to pry her away.

“No! I won’t leave him!” she yelled, tears streaming down her face.

“Fiona please… you need to, ...go now. Go... now!” he managed to get out, as his head started to swirl into darkness once again. He caught the final glimpse of Fiona being dragged out of the room, all he could think about was keeping his team safe and hidden. That was the only thing that mattered right now. 

Rhys became conscious once again, his vision was blurred into red flashes. Were his eyeballs bleeding? He heard distant shouts of voices masked by a constant whooping ring. “Of course” he thought, Helios’ alarm system was the noise, the red flashing wasn’t blood. It was the red alert lights in the ceiling. The shouts around him went quiet as a booming voice called for Rhys nearby. 

Next thing he focused on was Jack, kneeling over him, fear filling his mismatched eyes. 

“Rhysie, baby, you’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna have the best doctors to fix you up, I swear, anyone who can’t help you I will personally murder” Jack said, grasping onto Rhys as if he might disappear at any moment. 

Jack tried his best to stop the tears pouring over, there was so much blood, and his Rhys looked far more broken than he liked. The kid’s breathing was ragged, his chest barely rising as he struggled with each breath.

“J-Jack?” Rhys asked, weakly. 

“It’s okay Rhysie, you’re okay, Med is on it’s way and they’ll fix you up real good, okay? Don’t worry kiddo, everything will be okay” Jack didn’t even feel the tears running underneath his mask, as he held Rhys in his arms. “Can’t let my favourite programmer just die on me, yeah?” 

He held Rhys close as his breathing got more and more laboured. “Just breath okay? Can you do that for me, kitten?” He got a small nod, before Rhys looked up at him then rolled to the back of his head as he fell unconscious again. Jack could only watch as Medical took him away, telling him he should stay behind. He gave his face a quick slap, quickly dabbed the tears off his face and forced himself to find whoever the fuck caused this mess, and anyone left behind would get to very clearly meet the open end of an airlock.

_____________________________

Rhys wished he could have woken up calmly and slowly, a gradual progression from the dream world to reality. Instead his eyes flicked wide open, his brain trying to process every detail around him at once yet failing. His head was pounding, his eyes hurt, and a distant tingle of his numb body surrounded him. 

Where was he? The last thing he remembered was Jack looking down at him, and then something wet on his face? Had he been crying? Jack didn’t cry, he was Handsome Jack and would rather be dead than to be caught crying over a lowly programming employee. He blinked, trying to recall any memories at all. 

Rhys jolted as his eyes met with a small but feminine figure lurking in the doorway. It was far too dark to see her face, but Rhys was sure the frame matched Sasha.

“Rhys, I’m not supposed to be here so I have to make this quick. You were asked by Mike to come see the grenade tested after you met him during a management session a few days ago. You have zero affiliation to me, Fi, or August. You were interested in the code behind the grenade mechanics, and wanted to study the effects so you could better understand how it all works. If Jack asks, do not mention us to him at all, okay? We’ll figure out the rest.”

So it was Sasha. He turned to her, nodded slowly, before presenting a weak but genuine smile.

“I’m really glad you’re okay Rhys, Jack has kept the hospital on lock down with super high security. I can’t stay, I don’t want to wake him. But I’m glad to see you smiling Rhys, I’ll come see you later this week, okay?”

Rhys nodded again, shifting his hand to hers, giving a gentle squeeze. She smiled back, before slipping out just as quietly as she came in. Rhys turned to his right to see that in fact Jack was sleeping next to him in a chair, hair unwashed, clothes wrinkled and worn. His face looked tired even with the mask, and for a brief moment Rhys wondered what was underneath.  
His eyes flicked back to himself, as they traced down his own bruised body to where his right arm should have been, but was evidently missing. A wave of sadness washed over as he discovered not only had his arm been taken off, but the entire port inside his shoulder had been removed. The tissue leading to his chest looking burnt and peeled, the explosion must’ve really damaged his right half. Rhys looked down to see his right leg in a cast and hung up. He tried to shift over to get a better look but a rapid, hoarse cough overcame him as his throat cried for water after far too long.

Rhys tried his best to cough quietly, but 5 seconds later and Jack was awake and kneeled over him, concerned but relieved.

“Rhysie, baby, you’re awake.” Jack whispered excitedly, as Rhys continued to choke on his dry throat. “Oh, shit, here’s some water” he said, fumbling for the cup beside him. 

Rhys gulped the water thankfully, watching Jack with curious eyes. He took a second to gather himself before speaking. “Thanks… Wh-what happened? Exactly?”

Jack frowned as he set the glass down with a little more force than necessary. “They were traitors, Rhys. That guy you made friends with so you could be a nerd? Mike? Yeah, he works with Tediore on a mission to infiltrate me. I don’t have all the details yet but rest assured I will hunt down and torture every single person who was involved with this, until I figure out every inch of how this was able to happen. I don’t care if I need to murder a million people, it will be done.” Jack clenched the bedside rail till it creaked loudly as it started to bend. 

“Jack, I can see you’re angry but he’s dead now. I saw him in pieces right next to me.”

“What the hell happened in there, Rhys?” Jack interrupted loudly, his gaze serious as he looked down to the patient.

“My brain is kinda foggy, Jack-”

“WELL MAKE IT UN-FOGGY!” Jack yelled, slamming his fist on table beside him. Rhys instinctively flinched away, fear filling his pupils as he ignored the screaming pain from his body telling him not to move.

Jack gorged burns into skin as he stared, body rigid as his anger kept flowing. Rhys wasn’t sure if it was him or Jack, but he blinked and Jack was seated back down in the chair as his shoulders heaved with deep breaths. Rhys didn’t dare speak as he let the hostile air simmer down, wondering what in the hell got Jack so angry in the first place. If anything, he should be getting tortured by the man right now as he forced answers out. 

It took almost 30 minutes, but finally Jack spoke. “Rhys... I uh… I shouldn’t be talking to you like that. I’m just really frustrated because I don’t know anything about this guy, and Tediore isn’t giving me answers, and seeing you on the ground covered in so much blood… Look at you. You’re almost broken to pieces, I could have lost you! I just-” Jack grunted angrily as he buried his face in his hands, landing a hard slap to his forehead. 

“Jack, I’m alive. I’m here, breathing and almost in one piece. I may be a little bruised, but I’m here.” Rhys whispered, looking away. 

Jack looked up, watching Rhys. The younger man looked back to Jack, as an unspoken emotion passed between them. 

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, all tension deflating as a security guard walked in. 

“Sir, there are two people here wanting to visit Rhys. They say they’re his housemates and good friends. Should I let them in?”

“Oh, Vaughn and Yvette! Yeah, let them in… If that’s alright, Jack” Rhys said, optimistically asking permission.

Jack sighed, rolling his eyes as he stood up. “Fine, let them in, but only for an hour. You and me are gonna talk later” Jack pointed to him, before disappearing out the door along with the guard. 

“Rhys!” He chuckled as he heard Yvette before he saw her, laughing as she came running through the doorway and into an instant hug. Vaughn came in behind her and gave Rhys the ‘super secret totally cool and bro awesome’ handshake.

“Hey bro! Thought we lost you when we heard you were involved. You’ve been out for like a week” Vaughn said.

Rhys blinked, surprised. “I was knocked out for a week?! What happened?”

“Well we all felt the shaking” Yvette said, reaching out to pat Rhys’ hand. “And at first the station was on total lockdown, it sucked, Rhys. I almost starved from no food because I didn’t buy any of those special Pandora chips beforehand”

Vaughn rolled his eyes in a sigh. “What she means to say is that when you didn’t show up for work, I checked your office and someone had left a note saying you were in hospital. Yvette almost got herself killed prying info out of Handsome Jack’s assistant and then actually meeting Jack himself when he asked why his coffee was late”

“It was fine! Jack eventually told me where you were AND I got to buy more food stock on my way home. I’d say it was a pretty good day” Yvette shrugged.

Vaughn again, rolled his eyes, before asking “So bro, what caused this whole event? Why are you involved in this in the first place?”

Rhys took a deep breath, and he racked through the information he could recall. “I don’t think I’m allowed to say any details, but I wanted to see a new grenade being tested so I could study  
the programming chip in it. Let’s just say a singularity went off and that new “Blow your brains out” grenade got pulled in. There were a lot of explosions” 

“Damn Rhys, you’re lucky to have survived that… I’ve seen a few earlier versions of that being tested, it’s beefy as hell” Yvette said.

“Let’s just celebrate that you’re alive and well… mostly in one piece. Drinks on us when you’re healed bro!” 

Yvette side elbowed Vaughn, laughing as he jumped away “Drinks on you Vaughn, I’m not paying for anyone. No offense, Rhys”

“None taken” he replied, smiling as realized how much he missed his friends.

They continued talking about various things Rhys missed during the week, like how someone from Marketing screwed up and his punishment was standing in front of a poster of himself, naked and wearing women’s lingerie. Rhys was never surprised at how often stuff like that happened. He sighed sadly as he saw Jack appear in the doorway, knocking loudly on the door as he walked in. 

“Guess our time is up, it was really good seeing you guys again, even if for me it’s only felt like a day.” Rhys said to his friends, watching as Vaughn froze at the appearance of Jack, Yvette not even caring in the slightest.

“Nice seeing you Rhys, finally. We’ll come back tomorrow okay?” Yvette said, turning around to see Jack behind her. “Excuse me Mr. Too Late Coffee, I need to access the doorway.”

Both Rhys and Vaughn turned wide eyed to Yvette. Jack’s face went from a careless but harsh stare to one eyebrow raised as he glowered at Yvette.

“What did you just say to me?” Jack replied, crossing his arms with a less than pleased look.

“I said I need to access the doorway, Mr. Too Late Coffee.” Yvette stared right back, almost challenging him. 

“Ah, hey look, Jack, she doesn’t mean any disrespect. Yvette would you please just shut up and leave with Vaughn?” Rhys stuttered, eyes begging for her to not get herself killed.

“Better listen to Rhysie over there. You’re that bitch who kept bugging my assistant about seeing him. Which you’re right. Made. My. Coffee. Late.” Jack couldn’t have said his words with a more chilling “I’ll kill you if you say another word” tone as he stepped aside and held his hand to show the doorway.

Yvette smirked, dragging Vaughn my the elbow out the door. “Bye Rhys!” She called, Vaughn giving him a half wave as they disappeared around the door. Jack turned and angrily looked at Rhys.

“You need better friends, pumpkin” he commented. Rhys sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Sorry about Yvette, she kinda does whatever she wants, damning the consequences.”

“Whatever Rhysie, just don’t let her get sassy around me or I’ll really put a bullet in her.” Jack tutted as he got himself comfy in the chair, facing Rhys. “So, you need to tell me the exact details of what happened in that room. The security cameras obviously didn’t survive that damage and it suspiciously corrupted the footage before it saved.”

Rhys took a deep breath, looking like he was trying to recall a sketchy memory when he was actually deciding what the story would be. He settled on going simple as possible, using the info he got from Sasha earlier. “Since you promoted me, I was looking through all the files that Vasquez never bothered to read. I found the blueprints and some emails from the team working on that grenade, and I don’t know, it really piqued my interest.”

“So how’d you meet that dick, Mark was it?”

“Mike.” He corrected, noticing Jacks brow pinch together in a bitter look. “Uh, so yeah, I got in touch with him and we kinda collaborated over details. He invited me to help with testing, so I went and-”

Jack interrupted him, “So you made freakin friends with little Mike then? What’d he do? Get you to suck him off too?” he almost shouted angrily.

Rhys blinked, perplexed. “What? No, wh- what are you talking about Jack?”

Jack seethed, rigidly sitting on the edge on the chair, fumes of anger pouring off him. “Fucking…. Nevermind what happened next?”

“Wait, Jack, what do you mean-”

“I SAID, what happened next?!” He shouted so loud Rhys could feel the walls shaking, and he laid there, terrified.

When Jack didn’t say anything else, just kept staring at the floor like he was avoiding looking at anything but Rhys, he decided to just keep talking. Jack was so unpredictable and he no idea if he was doing anything right.

“Um… I was just sitting at the computer setting the chamber up while he went and grabbed it, but I don’t remember much, other than he had me make sure the dock controls were locked. I don’t think he meant for an explosion to happen because he wanted to show me the chip of a singularity, but instead of pulling the chip out, he accidentally set it off.” Rhys took a breath, dared to check it Jack was still listening. 

“And?” Jack muttered, staying still.

“And he pushed me aside. I think my arm dented or somehow opened the safe containing that untested grenade. It got pulled in and well, you know the rest.” 

Jack took in a deep breath, finally looking up to Rhys. “So the whole explosion was an accident?”

“Yes, I believe so” he replied, fidgeting as his left shoulder itched and he realized he had nothing to itch with. 

Jack noticed, and clued in on Rhys’ missing arm. “Oh about that, your arm was completely torn out. They had to take the shoulder port too so it wouldn’t damage the nervous system.”

“Yeah I can see that…. Fuck this arm was so expensive, I can’t afford a new one plus the surgery to rewire my system.” Rhys sighed, depressed. He loved his arm, especially when he was doing hands on engineering for a computer part. It out performed any machine because he not only had an echo eye, but a brain attached to make commands too. 

Jack snorted from his chair, leaning back with his hands behind his neck. “You don’t have to pay for anything. I’ve got a custom arm for you, should be finished in a couple days.”

Rhys’ jaw dropped, staring at Jack in shock. “But, those arms are crazy expensive to make! Especially the surgery to have them installed, my first one was 12 hours long and that alone cost me twice my yearly salary! And think of the risk! My first arm I was healthy and in shape and then working at Hyperion only means stress and sleepless nights and over working especially with ass-quez on my ass, I mean I might not even make it through the surgery! For all you know I could die before that even happens and th-“ 

Rhys was quickly silenced by Jacks fingers over his lips, shushing him. “Rhysie, you talk too much.”

He gave a short nod of confirmation, staying silent when the fingers were removed. “You won’t need to pay a dime. I own Hyperion, if you want a thousand arms made consider it done!” Jack’s confidence wavered slightly as he brought his hands back down. “Besides, my uh, Angel was working on some stuff and well, she kinda made the arm on her own” 

Rhys’ heart warmed as he thought of young Angel in her room, furiously programming away for days on end, then proudly presenting her work to Jack. 

Rumours of Jack being a terrible father often circulated around employees, a new gag of “Did you hear Jack left his daughter on her own without foods for weeks while he went to Pandora?” But those people didn’t know Jack. Hell, even Rhys didn’t know the true Jack. But hearing the way he talked about Angel, the sparkle in his eyes when he mentioned this was the first project Angel had done entirely on her own without help? Rhys knew those rumours weren’t true. 

“Thanks Jack, really. You have no idea how how much this means to me.” He said softly, smiling. 

Jack nodded in return, still sitting a little awkward next to him. Again, the room returned to a tension that seemed to have an unspoken emotion sitting between them. 

Jack was the first to move, coughing as he stood up and patted Rhys on what was left of his shoulder. “So I’m gonna go home, get some fresh clothes and shit. You uh, you want anything? Like from your home?”

Rhys thought for a second, “Actually I would really like this book I’ve been reading. It’s old leather, I keep in on my nightstand, if you don’t mind getting it. Just don’t go through my stuff, I’m a weird person” 

Jack laughed, walking to the door. “What, you think I’m gonna go snooping for that massive 13 inch dildo?”

Rhys turned bright red as looked anywhere but Jack. “HOLY SHIT you do have one!” Jack doubled over laughing as Rhys tried to bury his existence. “Rhysie, baby, let me tell you that could be so useful…” Jack winked before striding out the door still chuckling. 

It took Rhys a week to recover from the embarrassment. 

_______________________________

Several weeks passed by as Rhys’ leg healed. He had his new arm attached, and even got to test out the new upgrades. One of which was this little personal robot, named Dumpy. He was a little simple and sometimes hard to control, but he was cute and Rhys felt he had to at least keep Dumpy around for Angel’s sake.

One of the happier moments was when he able to have the massive leg cast taken off in favour of just his ankle. He still had to walk with crutches, but at least he could walk somewhere at all.

Currently Jack was talking with a doctor outside as Rhys waited, ready to walk wherever Jack had planned for them to go.

“So no interruptions, are we clear? I don’t like strangers barging in like they own the place” Jack scoffed, shooing the doctor off. “Okay! Me and you are taking a walk, figured I’d let you get out of this shit hole hospital for a while.”

“Walk? How far?” Rhys asked.

Jack sighed as he rolled his eyes. “Rhysie, baby, you’re not actually walking anywhere. Come on, let me show you!” He said excitedly, clapping his hands. Rhys chuckled as Jack got into one of his favourite moods. The non-CEO, just Jack who makes jokes about eggshells and writes bad poetry. 

Jack led Rhys down the hallway, soon stopping at a large door. He checked the keycard in, and Rhys was more than confused when they entered a massive room, ceilings several hundred feet above them. The room itself was at least 100 meters wide, a dark paneling covering the walls with little blue cones attached to it. 

‘Uhh, what are we doing here, Jack?” he asked.

“Welcome to the Digi-Room, Rhys! It’s a special room I designed that simulates any environment you want, and you can explore said world with in this space. I have a private one back home, but for now we’re just gonna use the hospital one.” Jack said as he walked into the control panel room. Rhys smiled as a large comfy couch sat before him, as he made his way over to sit down.

“What you in the mood for pumpkin? Warm caribbean beach? The coasts of Italy? Wastelands?” 

Rhys thought about it. He’s never travelled much, only from his home planet to Helios and Pandora by extension. His home planet was earthy, with rock formations and giant green trees standing over them. The air was slightly colder but still warm enough to appreciate being alone in a forest.

“Do you have anything with forests? Tall coniferous trees, a sky that’s slightly pink in colour, crunchy dirt below you with a slightly colder breeze blowing through?” he asked, smiling at the memories of being home.

Behind him, Jack smiled as he saw how happy Rhys was. This scene must’ve been somewhere he’d been before because Jack knew the look of recalling old memories all too well. He found the chip for the planet Rhea, which Jack suddenly realized may be why Rhys is named as he is, as he plugged it in. 

The wall whirred and vibrated as the environment started to digistruct itself around them. Rhys made a sudden gasp, leaning forward in his bed as he realized this was his home planet.

“How did you-?” 

Jack let out a quiet laugh, coming to stand next to Rhys. “You described a forested, mountain planet like it was home, and there’s only a couple out there close enough to Pandora that you would be talking about. Rhea is a beautiful planet, only visited once when I almost 20.” Jack said sitting down, leaning his shoulder into Rhys’.

“Yeah it’s… home I guess. I just remember spending so much time in the forest, alone, when I very young. Of course it didn’t last long, I lived on Pandora since I was 10, and now I’ve been on Helios for what, 4 years? I miss living, breathing trees sometimes.” He commented, relishing in cool air that rushed across his face. It even smelled the same.

Jack turned to look over at Rhys, watching as he sniffed the air with a smile, sighing happily as he opened his eyes to look at Jack.

He smiled back, stretching his arms across the back of the couch. “You can move around with this remote, this is your world Rhys!”

Rhys took it from Jack, pressing the forward button. The walls whirred to life again as it sped forward through the forest until it reached an open field.

“Oh I remember this area! Didn’t the war of Juniper happen here?” Rhys asked, not really expecting Jack to answer.

He hummed, nodding “And so the berries rotted beneath their mothers root, as so the queen sung the death song, commanding her soldiers mute”

Rhys shifted himself to look directly at Jack, enraptured by how smoothly he spoke reciting the ancient poem. Jack simply shrugged, not bothering to elaborate any further. 

Rhys continued traveling through his home planet, gasping as he soared past a place that flooded his mind with memories.

“Something catch your eye there kitten?” Jack asked, as Rhys looking at the remote.

“Yeah.. I just” He managed to find the reverse button, watching as the familiar giant tree came back into view. “There used to be a tree house there, one my dad built for me. I uh, I spent quite a bit time there” Rhys laughed awkwardly, trying to avoid the topic that his first experiences in self pleasure kept occuring there as he learned. It certainly wasn’t helping that he hadn't had a chance to get off since the incident, being locked in a hospital 24/7. 

Jack was way to perceptive though and sat up to look at him. “You had a masturbation treehouse?” 

Rhys squawked, fumbling as he tried to not fall over. “What? No? I mean… Yeah but like, no but… yes” Jack could only laugh as Rhys was red as a tomato.

“You manage to surprise me everyday kiddo”

Rhys shifted uncomfortable, Jack was still sitting incredibly close and the tightening of his pants was not helping. He tried adjusting his position as discreetly as possible, but with Rhys being Rhys, Jack looked over at him, eyebrow raised.

Jack turned on his side, hovering over him. “Something wrong Rhysie?” He asked slyly, brushing his hand over Rhys’ thigh. He sat there still, unsure of what to do. But Jack kept his hand there, slowly moving it up closer and Rhys’ breath hitched as Jacks fingers barely touched the surface of his crotch.

“J-Jack, I uh… Mmm” A moan escaped, he couldn’t help it. It had been so long, and Jack was just right there, musky scent of gun powder and cologne washing over him.

“You what, pumpkin? Gonna have to speak up for me unless want me to stop” Jack muttered, teasing as he took his hand away.

“No- I, that feels good” Rhys whispered, still looking down, away from Jack.

Jack brought his hand up to Rhys’ jaw, forcing Rhys to look at him as he stared. They stared at each other for a moment, the same unspoken emotion passing between them before Jack pushed his lips onto Rhys’. This time Rhys immediately kissed back, opening his mouth to let Jack’s tongue in to explore. 

Jack marveled in the way Rhys tasted, the mint from his toothpaste left behind and a unique taste that Jack might describe as raspberry. He continue to make out with him, bringing a hand down his chest, slowly teasing his fingers gently across the skin under his shirt until he reached the button of the jeans. 

He stopped for a second, getting a quiet whine from Rhys, but kept going over his jeans as he found Rhys’ now fully hard cock. He watched Rhys’ face as he started palming him, a shiver running through Jack as Rhys bit his lip in pleasure. Jack growled, moving his mouth down the neck, leaving small love bites as he continued to palm Rhys, who started squirming.

“Ple-please Jack” he asked, moving his own hand to undo the button of his jeans. 

Jack smirked, moving so he was now kneeling over Rhys entirely. “Not yet pumpkin. You only get to touch yourself when I tell you, got that?” He sternly told, holding Rhys’ hands over his head. Rhys nodded, cock twitching in excitement at being told what to do.

“Now suck, start slow” Jack commanded, as he told his own hardened dick out for Rhys to take. 

Rhys started by slowly just breathing, his lips just barely touching Jack, until he flicked his tongue over the tip, bringing it through the underside in one smooth motion. Jack growled again, clearly growing impatient. He moved Rhys’ head so he had no choice but to start sucking on Jack. Rhys shifted his seating realizing just how big Jack was, and how the hell he was going to fit all of him into his mouth. 

Rhys got almost 6 inches before it hit the back of his throat, and he had to stop himself from gagging. Luckily Jack didn’t seem to care as he held Rhys in place, eyes staring with an intensity that Rhys hadn’t seen before. He applied more suction, moving up and down against Jack’s length, eyes peering upwards. Jack’s breath hitched as Rhys kept looking, a grunt escaping as he moved his knee between Rhys’ legs. Rhys jolted in response, moaning as Jack gently applied friction on him. 

Rhys pulled away, still watching Jack as he bit his lip again in pleasure. “Jack, please… I want”

“You want what?” He stopped moving his knee, Rhys whining in response.

“Please… uh, Jack” Was all Rhys got out before Jack had his hand around his throat, gently squeezing as he got real close to his face, licking along Rhys’ jaw, watching. 

He tightened his grip around his throat, “Tell me exactly what you want, Rhys”

Rhys shuddered, moaning again. “I want you inside me, please Jack, please fuck me!” he shouted.

Jack gave a low growl as he ripped Rhys’ pants off, then standing to jump out of his own. Jack shoved his jacket off too, grabbing a small package of lube from the pocket.

“You always carry spare lube?” Rhys couldn’t help but ask. 

Jack rolled his eyes as he opened the lube onto his hands. “Yes, now shut up and let me fuck you” he said, leaning down to kiss Rhys again before lining himself up. He made sure he was extra careful not to move Rhys’ casted leg too much, worried that he might hurt or re-injure him. He settling on having Rhys laying almost sideways, one leg stretched around to Jack’s side.

Rhys nodded, he just wanted Jack inside him already. He moaned loudly as Jack pushed his tip inside, stopping to allow Rhys to adjust. A few moments passed as Jack went another few inches in.

“So… big” Rhys sighed. Jack slowly worked his hand around Rhys’ cock while he waited, before pushing all the way inside. 

“Fuck you’re so tight baby” 

“Please… move” Rhys said seconds later, already trying to move himself on Jack. 

Jack grunted as he started moving in and out, Rhys reveling in having him so full, so stretched. Jack continued thrusting, bringing himself down to kiss once more, letting their tongues clash together. 

“Oh… fuck Jack” Rhys cried out as Jack his his prostate, sending jolts of energy up his body. He moved his arm to clutch desperately at Jack, not realizing it was his new metal arm until suddenly Jack stopped, yelping out.

“Ow, shit Rhys… Fucking skagcock” Rhys opened his eyes to see his new metal arm clamped around Jack’s arm tightly.

“Oh my god, Jack, I’m so sorry, holy shit are you okay?!” He shrieked, tearing his arm away. 

Jack rubbed his arm where a fading red mark was left. “Yeah I’m fine, just kinda surprised how strong that thing is” Jack chuckled, rubbing Rhys’ knee in a reassurance that he was indeed fine. 

Rhys smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry… My old arm was starting to wear down, it would never grab so tightly like that.”

“Don’t worry Rhys, they don’t call me the most badass dude in the planet for nothing” He smirked, “Did you want to continue?” Jack said, turning serious again as he moved his hand up Rhys’ thigh, stopping short. Rhys’ cocked twitched in reponse.

“Um.. Yes” He replied, scooting himself back down. Jack smiled, shifting himself. Rhys watched curiously as Jack winked, bringing him lips down over his dick, just hovering there unmoving.

“Mmm Jaaaack” Rhys whined, squirming as he felt Jack’s hot breath wash over him. Jack took his hand and started moving it up and down Rhys’ length, before washing his tongue over the tip. Rhys moaned again, as Jack sucked on his cock. He shuddered again, as Jack brought a hand down to massage his balls, a feeling he had long forgotten felt so good. 

The awkwardness of before drifted away, and soon Jack growled, stopping his work on Rhys to push himself up and back inside Rhys. He went right in, no prep or anything and Rhys cried out in intense pleasure as jack stuffed all 10 inches of himself deep into him.

The sounds of Rhys moaning, Jack grunting, and the sound of flesh slapping against each other echoed the room. The moans got louder as Jack kept hitting Rhys’ prostate over and over again.

“Oh.. Jack please… I’m so close” Rhys whispered between cries, bringing his hand down to jerk himself.

“Oh, Rhys” was all Jack got out as he thrusted deep into Rhys, the flow of orgasm rushing through him. Rhys felt the hot seed of Jack inside him, the feeling of being stuffed so full and so big, the grunts of Jack, and a second later he was coming too, pouring thick streams over his chest as he waited so long for this. Jack slouched down to kiss him lazily, as the tiredness of post sex overcame them both. 

“We gotta clean you up, baby” Jack muttered, reaching over to grab a spare small towel that was attached to his pants. 

They cleaned themselves up as Rhys sleepily put his clothes back on, checking to make sure nothing was on his cast.

“That was great, Rhysie. Fuck I havent’ fucked in so long” Jack sighed, laying down next to him on the couch. 

“Yeah, that was good” Rhys sighed, smiling up at Jack who smiled back. They laid there for a few minutes, Jack fiddling with Rhys’ hands before the blurting tone of a phone call came through. 

Jack sat up, picking up the phone. Rhys didn’t really bother listening in, it wasn’t his business and besides, he just had sex with Jack. He couldn’t be more happy even if he wasn’t sure what it meant. 

“Yeah, I know, they’re the worst sort of filth to ever exist!” Jack shouted. Rhys perked up, curiosity taking over. 

“Well I can promise you that any traitors to ever exist will deeply regret ever living. They only live to betray and I will completely delete every last one!” Jack yelled again, slamming his ECHO shut. 

“What happened?” Rhys asked.

Jack turned back towards him, “Just dealing with this Tediore mess, Rhys. Seems there more people involved than I previously thought. Every person who I ever trusted has betrayed me” Jack said, moving his hand to rest on Rhys’ shoulder. “A traitor, a betrayer, is the worst thing to ever exist. They lie and cheat their way through, only seeking to get what they want, and then as soon as they think they have it, they fuck everyone else over in the process. I trusted people before who turned on me, and I had to show them a lesson. Please never betray me, Rhys” Jack said seriously.

Rhys nodded in response, a sickening emotion filling his gut. Wasn’t he technically a traitor to Jack? His life in Hyperion was a lie, and his entire existence so far had been building up to conquer those he hated. Felix hated Jack and Hyperion, so Rhys hated them too…. Right?

“Woah hey, pumpkin, you alright? You’re getting pale” Jack said pushing his hand to his forehead to check the temperature. “I didn’t scare you with my angry rant, did I?” he asked, watching Rhys closely.

Rhys swallowed thickly, trying to remain his composure. “Yeah, I’m fine Jack. Sorry, just a little tired you know? Think I went a little too quickly from lying down all the time to all this, ah, exercise suddenly” He half laughed.

Jack seemed to believe him, and nodded. “Okay, let’s get you back to bed then”

When Jack had Rhys back in his bed, he couldn’t sleep however. The thoughts of the reality of his situation hitting him raced through his mind as he questioned just what exactly was his plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry for any editing mistakes, I edited on my phone while waiting at the doctors so I probably missed some stuff.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you are enjoying this work. I post chapters around 4 am EST, which means I may miss spelling and/ or grammatical errors. It's been a while since I've actually written a plot filled story, apologies if this turns out to be total shit!


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